The income tax raids on a pharmaceutical company owned by Sanskruti Jayesh Patel, granddaughter of former Chief Minister Anandi Patel, and current Governor of Uttar Pradesh, have led the Gujarat government to initiate an inquiry into the suspected irregularities within a trust predominantly controlled by Jayesh Ishwar Patel, Anandi Patel's son-in-law.
To investigate the alleged scams revolving around the repeated sale of land owned by the Harijan Ashram Trust, a vital part of the Sabarmati Satyagraha Ashram, the state law department has formed a Special Investigation Committee (SIT). The committee comprises retired IAS officer Vinay Vyas and Charity Commissioner Y S Shukla, entrusted with probing these alleged irregularities and submitting a comprehensive report to the government.
Of the 104 acres belonging to the Sabarmati Satyagraha Ashram, initially established by Mahatma Gandhi, the Harijan Ashram Trust has reportedly sold over 40,000 square meters of land to developers at significantly undervalued prices, without seeking approval from the Charity Commissioner.
Among the six trusts associated with the Satyagraha Ashram, the Harijan Ashram Trust, formerly overseen by late Ishwar Patel and now managed by Jayesh Patel, has been at the centre of these controversial land transactions. Notably, several builders have purportedly constructed residential complexes and commercial buildings on multiple survey numbers without obtaining requisite government approvals.
The gravity of the situation prompted a petition to be filed in the Gujarat High Court, highlighting the repeated unauthorised land sales, which were initially dedicated to Gandhi's ideology and hold substantial market value. Consequently, the court has instructed the government to take possession of the land in question and conduct a thorough investigation into the alleged irregularities.