Bhopal: A political row on Monday erupted after the Congress linked a person, arrested in connection with the seizure of a facility manufacturing banned mephedrone (MD) drug here a couple of days ago by the Gujarat police, with a senior minister in the Mohan Yadav government.
Ruling BJP here swiftly rebutted the charges and accused the Congress of spreading ‘bold-faced lies’ to tarnish the image of Madhya Pradesh.
Madhya Pradesh Congress unit president Jitu Patwari on Monday flaunted a photograph, in which Harish Anjana, one of the three people arrested in the banned drug manufacturing case here, was seen with deputy chief minister Jagdish Devda, at a press conference here while seeking to establish a link between them.
State BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma has stoutly dismissed the charges saying that Harish has no links with the BJP.
“Anyone can take pictures with a minister”, he said while reminding Mr Patwari that senior Congress leader and former Haryana chief minister Bhupenda Hooda was also seen in a photograph with an accused in a drug seizure case in Delhi.
“As the president of the state unit of BJP, I am categorically saying that this particular person has nothing to do with the BJP. The Congress is spreading lies to defame Madhya Pradesh and the Mohan Yadav government”, Mr Sharma reiterated.
The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Delhi, in a joint raid at the factory located in Bagroda industrial estate on the outskirts of Bhopal on Saturday seized MD drug weighing 907.09 kg worth Rs 1,814 crore.
In addition to the contraband, around 5,000 kg of raw materials, including chemicals and equipment, used for producing MD, were also seized in the factory.
This was said to be the largest illegal factory ever busted by the Gujarat ATS.
Two persons, identified as Amit Chaturvedi (57) and Sanyal Prakash Bane (40), were arrested during the raid.
Harish was arrested later.
A process was underway to manufacture a large amount of the contraband when the raid was carried out, official sources said.
