Ruling BJP on Saturday blamed Congress for the “original sin” that led to the alleged Rs 11500 crore banking fraud by jeweller Nirav Modi and his partner Mehul Choksi. Congress termed it “cheap sense of politics that has reached ludicrous and ridiculous proportions”.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, fielded by the BJP to respond to allegations that the Modi government failed in preventing the alleged scam and stopping the accused kingpins from fleeing the country, said Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi’s family had stocks in one of the companies of the billionaire fugitivies. She said Congress President Rahul Gandhi and party spokesperson Singhvi had links with the businessmen.
Sitharaman was armed with a pile of documents which she alleged pointed at how Gandhi promoted the businessmen and benefited from the scam.
Rahul asks PM to explain: Congress President Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on PM Narendra Modi on the PNB scam allegedly involving Nirav Modi, asking him to explain why it has happened and what steps he is taking to ensure that the banking system is safe in India.
He accused the central government of constantly refusing to accept its responsibility and alleged that the PM was “destroying” the economy through his actions, starting from demonetisation.
“The prime minister will have to come out and tell what happened (on Nirav Modi) and why, and how did it happen? And what is he going to do about it,” he told reporters after the first meeting of the Congress steering committee that will function in place of the working committee (CWC), the highest decision making body of the party.
The Congress chief rejected the BJP charge that he had personal ties with Nirav Modi and had attended his promotional event, saying “they are trying to divert the issue. There is nothing like that.”
21 more PNB fraud-related raids, says ED: Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday conducted raids at 21 more places across India and seized assets worth Rs 25 crore in connection with the multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam, an official said.
“The ED conducted further searches at 21 locations across India in the Nirav Modi case and seized diamonds, gold, precious stones and jewellery worth Rs 25 crore (book value). The total seizures till now in the case is Rs 5,674 crore,” ED spokesman Anil Rawal told IANS.
Six properties in Mumbai belonging to the jeweller were also sealed.
The action is based on a CBI case registered against Nirav Modi on Wednesday in connection with a fraud involving Rs 6,498 crore. The FIR also named two former bank employees said to be directly involved in the fraudulent transactions.
Additionally, three companies of Gitanjali Group were also named in the CBI FIR for defrauding Rs 4,886.72 crore.