CM's sudden visit to ACB HQ sets tongues wagging

Jaipur: Amid the political turmoil over talks of his replacement in the state and bete noire Sachin Pilot meeting one of his key ministers, chief minister Ashok Gehlot suddenly reached the headquarters of the anti-corruption bureau ( ACB ) in the city’s Jhalana area on Tuesday evening.

Senior ACB officials claimed the CM’s visit was related to a review meeting.

“The CM reviewed the ACB’s works. He also instructed us to carry out effective actions,” said DG (ACB) BL Soni.

The DG said that the CM applauded the ACB’s functioning.

Sources told TOI that the meeting was finalised just a few hours before Gehlot’s visit to the ACB’s office at 6.30pm.

In fact, many officials were caught off guard after they were informed of the CM’s sudden visit in the evening. “He (Gehlot) sought information about the functioning of the agency, the effectiveness of the anti-corruption helpline numbers etc,” said an official on the condition of anonymity.

The sources said that the issue of pending cases was also discussed in the meeting.

The meeting was also attended by chief secretary Usha Sharma , additional chief secretary home Abhay Kumar, principal secretary finance, Akhil Arora, and secretaries to CM Gaurav Goyal, and Arti Dogra .

The ACB officials in the meeting said that in the last month alone, they had registered a record 392 cases of the prevention of corruption (PC) act.

There were 360 cases of traps in which people were caught red-handed, while 17 cases were related to disproportionate assets, and 15 cases were of misuse of office.

“One of the major takeaways of the meeting was to widely publicize the ACB’s helpline numbers so that more people could complain about the corrupt officials,” said an official.