Speaking to ThePrint, Manoj’s father Dharam Singh Parmar called the 5 December ED raid a tool to pressure his son to join the BJP.

“It is clear for the BJP—join the party and ED cases and everything goes away. If you don’t, you face the consequences. But even if the BJP takes everything from us, we will never support the party.”

Asked about the raid, he said an ED team had also reached his house in Haraspur village while another team conducted search operations at Manoj’s home in Sehore’s Ashta.

“We were told we were in trouble for supporting the Congress. And had we sided with the BJP, nothing would have happened. I told them, ‘hum dekh lenge sahab’,” he said.

While state Congress president Jitu Patwari has met the couple’s family and Rahul Gandhi spoke to them over phone, senior party leader Kamal Nath has also publicly remarked on the deaths.

Speaking to The Print, the elder son, who was also present during the ED raid, alleged that Sahu asked him about his relationship with Rahul Gandhi and the properties owned by the Congress leader.

“He asked, ‘How much property does Rahul Gandhi have?’ I told him I did not know Rahul Gandhi. We only met during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Then, he slapped me and pushed me away,” he said.

Earlier in a press note issued after the raid, the ED said it initiated investigations “on the basis of FIR registered and chargesheet filed by CBI Bhopal under various sections of IPC, 1860, against the senior bank manager of PNB i.e. Mark Pius Karan, and Manoj Parmar”.

“Scrutiny of FIR and chargesheet revealed that funds amounting to Rs six crore were availed as loan under the scheme of Pradhan Mantri Employment Generation Program (PMEGP) and Chief Minister Yuva Udhami Yojana (CUMYU) scheme, but were diverted and mis-utilised,” it read.

The press statement further stated, “During the investigation, bank account analysis revealed that the bank funds were diverted to various proprietorship concerns/firms and were subsequently withdrawn in cash for the purpose of investment in properties.”

According to Manoj Parmar’s family, he had served time behind bars in the case, but multiple agencies continued to harass him. “Manoj even approached the Supreme Court asking how multiple agencies can be investigating the same case,” said Dharam Singh Parmar.

When contacted, sources in the ED denied the allegations by the family, saying that searches at Parmar’s premises were carried out on 5 December in an “orderly manner” and “as per procedure”.

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ED denies charges in Manoj Parmar’s ‘suicide’ notes

Near the bodies of Manoj Parmar and Neha, the police found a six-page typewritten note believed to have been written a few days before the double ‘suicide’. According to senior police officers, the note was an ‘application seeking permission to commit suicide’.

In the note addressed to 17 people, from the President, Prime Minister, and home minister to the state Congress president, Manoj Parmar accused the ED officials of hurling abuses at him for supporting Rahul Gandhi and advising him to join the BJP to make the cases go away.

In the note, Manoj Parmar also accused ED assistant director Sanjeet Kumar Sahu and Sahu’s assistant Radheshyam Vishnoi of switching off the CCTV cameras during the raid. He additionally accused Sahu of taking Rs 10 lakh in cash and 70 grams of gold jewellery from his house, without mentioning that in the ‘panchnama’ later handed to him.

“Sahu saw photos of Rahul Gandhi and Congress leaders in the house and began saying, ‘The photo is the reason for the raid in your house and that your children campaign for the Congress party’,” the note added. Besides, Parmar accused Sahu of pressuring him to get his children to join the BJP in the note to make the ED case ‘go away’.

According to his nephew Ravi, Manoj mentioned writing a letter two days before his death. “Around 11 December, Manoj mentioned he wanted to send a letter to all authorities. So, when we found the letter addressed to the authorities next to his body, we realised it might have been the one.”

In the note, Manoj Parmar also claimed that Sahu kept his feet on Manoj’s shoulder and told him that was where he belonged.

The police have not confirmed the letter as a suicide note and instead said they are investigating the matter.

“We have found certain materials from where the incident occurred. We are investigating from all angles. We will question the family members and all those involved before reaching conclusions,” said Deepal Kumar, the superintendent of police of Sehore.

In another handwritten note, Manoj Parmar accused a local trader of paying BJP leaders to get the ED to conduct the raid after the trader, on 25 October, lost a legal battle against Manoj over a property. Manoj wrote that during the search operation, the ED officer asked him to meet the local trader.

Asserting that the 5 December raid was peaceful, the ED sources said Manoj Parmar and his wife were summoned on 9 and 10 December to record their statements about the incriminating material seized in the searches, but they did not appear. Instead, their nephew arrived at the ED office, requesting an adjournment, and the couple was then asked to appear on 12 December.

“Parmar sent an email, saying he would appear. On 12 December, he called the ED office in Bhopal, saying he would reach by afternoon, but he did not come. No ED officer contacted Parmar or his wife post the 5 December searches, which were carried out in a peaceful manner,” a source said, dismissing claims of any harassment.

Congress & BJP in a political tussle over ‘suicides’

On Saturday, state Congress President Jitu Patwari, after meeting Manoj Parmar’s family, told the media that the CBI came into the picture in the case nine years ago and the ED five years ago.

“The children (Manoj Parmar’s children) told me before the media that there was pressure on them to join the BJP. How the BJP government is using the ED as a political tool is once again clear before everyone,” he added.

Patwari further targeted the BJP, saying, “Earlier instances were of using ED against political opponents to extort money, but going behind individuals, families and telling people to go BJP to avoid cases is unfathomable.”

A video shared on his social media handle on X shows Patwari speaking to Manoj Parmar’s son. The young boy informs Patwari, “It was BJP state President V.D. Sharma who was pressurising the ED authorities to push us to join BJP.”

Dismissing the allegations, BJP spokesperson Ashish Agarwal said Jitu Patwari should apologise for his false statement, otherwise the BJP will take legal action against him.

“It is clearly visible in the video that Jitu Patwari first tricks the innocent child of the victim’s family by taking him aside and then makes him make factual, untruthful and absurd allegations in the style of question and answer,” he said.

“Suicide or death of anyone is extremely sad. This is like a thunderbolt on the victim’s family and Bharatiya Janata Party is with the victim’s family and children in this hour of grief,” he added.

(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)

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