 "We turned to EC for prompt action, Cong's Singhvi on ED's allegation")
Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi condemned the allegations of the Enforcement Directorate against Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Wednesday and said that they have approached the Election Commission for immediate and prompt action.
"We have turned to the Election Commission to put an immediate stop to the activity of the election department of the BJP, the ED that they will enter wherever they want, they will go to any state they want, and they will give any statement they want. We condemn this and we turn to the EC for immediate, prompt action," the Congress leader said.
Singhvi said that despite the request of the Chattisgarh government, in August, in connection with the ban on the Mahadev App, the Ministry of Electronics informed said that the blocking orders had been issued for the app after a request was made by the ED but no such requests were made by the Chattisgarh government.
"About 18 months ago, an investigation was initiated by the Chhattisgarh Police regarding the Mahadev App case. The ED began an investigation about 6-8 months ago in Dubai. In August, the Chhattisgarh government requested to ban the app, but it was not done. Now, the Ministry of Electronics has banned the app and said that no such requests were made by the Chattisgarh government earlier. As soon as the elections are near, you can see new statements by BJP leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ED," the Congress leader said.
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued blocking orders against 22 illegal betting apps and websites, including Mahadev Book and Reddyannaprestopro, an official statement said on Sunday.
Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar informed that blocking orders have been issued after a request was made by the ED but no such requests were made by the Chhattisgarh government.
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"Chhattisgarh government had all the power to recommend shutting down a website or app under Section 69A of the IT Act. However, they did not do so, and no such request has been made by the state government while they have been investigating it for the last 1.5 years. In fact, the first and only request has been received from ED, and it has been acted upon. Nothing prevented the Chhattisgarh government from making similar requests," MoS Chandrasekhar said.
Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said that according to fresh evidence following a search operation on November 2, it was found that regular payments have been made in the past, and so far, around Rs 508 crore has been paid by Mahadev App promoters to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.
However, CM Baghel has refuted the ED's claim and said that the BJP wants to contest the upcoming Chhattisgarh polls with the help of its "agencies".
The ED is investigating the Mahadev Book Online Betting App syndicate and the promoters of this betting syndicate.
The first phase of polling for the Chhattisgarh Assembly concluded on Tuesday, and the second phase will be held on November 17. The counting of votes will take place on December 3 in all five poll-bound states.