The present Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government after assuming power in March this year had formed a ministerial sub-committee for in-depth study of charges of corruption and other irregularities levelled against the previous Rashtriya Janata Party (RJP) government. Stating this, minister of state for home Haren Pandya on Sunday said the purchase scandal was found to be meriting further probe by the ACB after a deep analysis by the sub-committee.

Besides Chaudhary and Bansal, the other two persons named in the complaint filed with the ACB include Kankuben Patel of Mehsana and Shrikant Krishnarao Khedkar of Mehsana. The complaint has been filed by the additional secretary in home department under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Anti Corruption Act.

The government in its complaint has alleged that both Chaudhary and Bansal had misused their respective official positions with a dishonest intention of deriving personal monetary gains out of the deal.

The ministerial sub-committee, which studies the cases of irregularities allegedly committed by the previous RJP government, consists of Suresh Mehta, Vajubhai Vala, Ashok Bhatt, Jainarayan Vyas and Haren Pandya. The present case is based on purchase of police vehicles which were procured through a Mehsana-based partnership firm named Rajkamal Motors wherein Chaudhary, the then home minister, was said to be a partner. The collective worth of the vehicles purchased by the then government from Rajkamal Motors was Rs 5.32 crore.

It is pointed out in the complaint that this purchase was done in deliberate violation of legal provisions.