Abhishek Singhvi says can sue Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi: Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi on Saturday denied any links of his family with jewellery designer Nirav Modi and Gitanjali Group promoter Mehul Choksi, accused in the Rs 11,400-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case, and charged the BJP with playing “cheap politics”. “BJP/NDA’s cheap sense of politics has reached ludicrous and ridiculous proportions. Neither my wife, sons nor me have anything whatsoever to do with Gitanjali or Nirav Modi companies,” he said.

Mr Singhvi said Nirav Modi’s company was a tenant of a Kamla Mills property owned by Adwait Holdings in which his wife and sons are directors. Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman alleged that Nirav Modi-run Firestar Diamond International had taken on lease a property of Adwait Holdings, a company in which Mr Singhvi’s wife is a director. “What is important that the premises has been used by Firestar Diamond International,” she alleged.

“Sensationalism, ignorance and falsehood has exceeded all limits in this irresponsible charge,” he said, threatening Ms Sitharaman and her colleagues of civil and criminal defamation for making “ill-considered, ignorant and patently false allegations”. “I reserve my rights to take legal action against the latter and all parts of the media which carry such defamatory allegations,” Mr Singhvi said. 

Mr Singhvi said Adwait Holdings owns a commercial property at Parel, which was rented by Nirav Modi’s company many years ago. “Neither Adwait nor my family has any interest with Modi or the company. Last August, the company gave notice to quit tenancy and vacated Parel Kamla Mills premises in December 2017,” he said.

“Neither I nor any member of my family has any interest in or relation to Nirav Modi or his companies. His company was a tenant in some commercial property owned by our family company. This tenancy ended in December 2017. Meanwhile, The CBI on Saturday arrested three people — a retired and a serving officials of Punjab National Bank and an executive of Nirav Modi’s company — and carried out searches at the Brady Road branch of the bank in Mumbai.