Montu Patel is an office-bearer of the BJP’s Yuva Morcha in Gujarat.
NEW DELHI – The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is going soft in its investigation into the multi-crore scam implicating the Pharmacy Council of India Chairman Montu Patel, the country’s main opposition Congress party has said.
Patel is an office-bearer of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Yuva Morcha in Gujarat.
Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here on Friday, Rajya Sabha MP and party spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil stated that since the CBI did not present all the facts before the court, the accused has managed to get interim protection from arrest.
Gohil said it took two years for the CBI to register an FIR despite incriminating and irrefutable evidence against Patel. He claimed that just because Patel is an office bearer of the BJP’s youth wing in Gujarat, the agency went soft on him and did not present the facts properly in the court.
He demanded that the CBI put the entire record of its investigation, with all evidence and proof, before the court, so that his anticipatory bail could be cancelled at the next hearing.
Giving details, Gohil said, there are allegations of a Rs 5,000 crore scandal against Patel involving the approval of pharmacy colleges without any physical verification. As many as 870 colleges were approved within a short span of 13 days. Gohil also played an audio recording of bribe deals in return for recognising pharmacy colleges.
Despite the seriousness and scale of the allegations, the CBI neither arrested Patel nor summoned him. It interestingly told the court that it had spoken to Patel over the phone, he added.
Gohil asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi what happened to his resolve of neither being corrupt himself nor letting others be corrupt. He also asked the prime minister why Patel has not been removed from the BJP despite such serious allegations against him.
He also asked why the IT and the ED had not carried out any raids at the residence or other premises of Montu Patel.
Gohil demanded that BJP-affiliated members should be removed from the Pharmacy Council of India and an interim chairman, a retired Supreme Court or high court judge, be appointed. He said a new law should be enacted to reconstitute the council, ensuring integrity and transparency in its functioning.
