ED, CBI, IT dept 'campaigners', 'frontline warriors' of BJP: Cong

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Friday alleged that the Enforcement Directorate, CBI, and Income Tax Department were "campaigners" and "frontline warriors" of the BJP who are given "targets" to scare Opposition leaders and make them join the ruling party.

The Opposition party's attack on the Modi government came a day after the Rajasthan Anti-Corruption Bureau arrested an Enforcement Directorate officer and his associate for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 15 lakh to settle a matter related to a chit fund case.

Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said the officials who are responsible for stopping corruption are themselves taking bribes.

"In Rajasthan, two ED officers have been caught red-handed taking a bribe of Rs 15 lakh to hush up a chit fund case," Khera said.

"Modi government should make the rate list of Enforcement Directorate public," he said.

If the rate list of small-level officers is Rs 15 lakh, then what will be the rate of officers above them, Khera asked.

He alleged that the ED, CBI, and IT department all are "government campaigners" of the BJP.

"They are given targets to scare the opposition leaders and make them join the BJP. This is (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi ji's toolkit," he alleged.

Khera asserted that Congress wants the investigating agencies of the country to remain powerful and fearless.

"As long as the leaders are in the opposition, they are corrupt... but as soon as they join BJP, they become clean. We want to tell the Modi government that you should strengthen these agencies, not make them helpless," he said.

The Anti Corruption Bureau, while doing its work fearlessly, caught ED officers taking bribes in Rajasthan, he said and alleged that the BJP government is trampling impartial institutions.

This is a serious threat facing the country, Khera asserted.

He alleged that in non-BJP ruled states, they send their "frontline warriors" to "threaten and intimidate" leaders.

Those arrested by the Rajasthan ACB are Naval Kishor Meena, an enforcement officer in the federal probe agency and resident of Vimalpura in Jaipur district, and Babulal Meena, a junior assistant in the Mundawar Sub-Registrar Office in the newly formed Kotpulti-Behror district of Rajasthan, the bureau said in a statement.

In a statement, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said that it has suspended Naval Kishor and initiated a money laundering probe against him and the other accused.

The Congress has been alleging that the ED action against opposition leaders was "politically motivated".