CBI DIG M.K. Sinha has accused Chaudhary of receiving ‘a few crore rupees’ as part of an extortion racket run by officers probing the Moin Qureshi case.
New Delhi: Of the several powerful Narendra Modi government functionaries named by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) DIG Manish Kumar Sinha in his Supreme Court affidavit Monday, union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary has been accused of receiving “a few crore rupees”.
In his plea about Central government interference in the CBI’s functioning, Sinha has accused Chaudhary of receiving the money as part of an extortion racket run by officers investigating the Moin Qureshi case in the “first fortnight of June 2018”.
The minister of state for coal and mines, Chaudhary is a four-time MP from Gujarat and an active member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
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Political career
Born in Jagana village in the Banaskantha district of Gujarat in 1954, Chaudhary is a commerce graduate from Mumbai University and worked as an agriculturist and a businessman.
He joined the BJP in the 1980s, but came into limelight after winning the Congress stronghold of Banaskantha constituency in the 12th Lok Sabha elections in 1998.
He has since been re-elected to the Lok Sabha constituency thrice — in 1999, 2013 and 2014.
In 2004, Chaudhary lost the Lok Sabha seat to Harisinh Chavda, and then to Mukesh Gadhvi in 2009. However, after Gadhvi’s untimely death in 2013, Chaudhary bounced back and reclaimed the seat in the by-elections.
He was able to retain the constituency the following year in the general elections.
Key positions
In his political career, Chaudhary has held several important positions, including the post of Gujarat BJP vice president from 2005 to 2010.
He served as MoS in the Ministry of Home Affairs in the Modi government from 9 November, 2014 to 5 July, 2016. He was then shifted to the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) ministry where he worked till last year.
Chaudhary has also served actively on various Parliamentary Standing Committees like urban and rural development, government assurances, finance, public accounts, commerce, transport and tourism, petroleum and natural gas, and consultative committees of the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Petroleum and Ministry of Finance.
Also read: Law Secretary Suresh Chandra had a quiet career — until his name got embroiled in CBI mess
Personal profile
Chaudhary has two sons and a daughter with his wife Javalben Chaudhary. Together, the couple holds movable assets worth a little over Rs 71 lakh and immovable assets amounting to Rs 85 lakh.
He runs two schools with an enrollment of approximately 5,000 students.
As of today, Chaudhary doesn’t have a single criminal case against him.
Show us one cabinet colleague of Modi ji whose credentials are not doubtful.