The Gujarat High Court has dismissed the petitions filed by former BJP ministers Parshottam Solanki and Dileep Sanghani, who sought to be discharged from an alleged Rs 400-crore fisheries scam case
The decision was made by Justice Hemant Prachchhak on Friday, rejecting the pleas that challenged a previous order by a special Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court dated March 12, 2021.
The High Court had earlier stayed criminal proceedings against Solanki and Sanghani, but on Friday, it extended the stay on proceedings for another four weeks, allowing time for further legal options.
Background of the Alleged Scam
The case dates back to 2008 when Parshottam Solanki served as the Minister of State for Fisheries and Dileep Sanghani was the Agriculture Minister in Gujarat. Ishaq Maradia, a businessman from Palanpur, filed a petition alleging that Solanki bypassed official procedures by awarding fishing contracts without the required tendering process.
Maradia accused Solanki of being involved in a “Rs 400-crore scam” by illegally granting fishing contracts for 58 reservoirs across Gujarat. During earlier hearings, Solanki argued that the responsibility for granting the contracts lay with Sanghani, who was the cabinet minister at the time.
Maradia approached the High Court in 2012 after the state government failed to grant permission to prosecute Solanki. However, the then-Governor of Gujarat, Dr. Kamla Beniwal, overruled the state cabinet’s decision and sanctioned Solanki’s prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act on July 30, 2012.
Following this, Maradia filed an application with the ACB court, seeking action against both Solanki and Sanghani under the Prevention of Corruption Act. In response, the ACB court in Gandhinagar ordered an investigation into the allegations in May 2013.
Investigation and Legal Proceedings
The ACB conducted an investigation and submitted its report to the court in 2015, highlighting irregularities in the allocation of fishing contracts. Based on this report, the Gandhinagar court issued summonses to Solanki and Sanghani, prompting them to challenge the proceedings in the High Court.
Previously, in 2018, the High Court had dismissed similar petitions from the two BJP leaders that sought to halt the proceedings initiated by the special ACB court concerning the alleged scam.
The recent decision by the Gujarat High Court marks another setback for Solanki and Sanghani as they face serious charges related to corruption and misconduct in the allocation of state fisheries contracts.
This version maintains the essential details of the original article while presenting the information in a fresh, concise manner.
(With inputs from agency)
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