AgustaWestland deal: Rahul Gandhi's aide threatens BJP MP of legal action

New Delhi: A key aide of Rahul Gandhi on Friday threatened BJP MP Kirit Somaiya of legal action if he failed to withdraw the "false allegations" he had made against him in the AgustaWestland chopper case and tender an apology.

In a legal notice, Kanishka Singh has told Somaiya that if he failed to do what has been demanded of him in within 72 hours, he will be compelled to take "all such actions that are open to him, both civil and criminal, at your cost and expense".

In the notice sent by Singh's advocate P S Sudheer, Singh said he has no link whatsoever with real estate developers EMMAR MGF.

Singh is neither a director nor a shareholder of the company nor has he ever been in the past nor does he intend to be at any point in the future, the notice said. "My client, in fact is estranged from the Rajiv Gupta family, including both Rajiv Gupta's sons Shravan and Siddharth, who are and/or have been the promoters, and/or share holders, and/or directors of EMMAR MGF."

"My client's family, in fact in own mother and he are involved in a continuous bitter litigation with them since 2005. He has made this clear in public statements from 2010 onwards," Sudheer said.

Haschke may have been an independent director of EMMAR MGF. "However, my client had nothing to do or has no link whatsoever with Haschke either.

"As regards to the allegations of transactions regarding Rahul Gandhi, you have tried to allege that it is tainted merely on basis that my client was connected with the Emmar MGF group. In view of the fact that my client has no connection with Emmar MGF is totally frivolous and not so ever," Sudheer said.

He told Somaiya that despite these facts having been brought to BJP MP's knowledge, he has been repeating these allegations with "complete disregard to the truth".

Training his guns on Rahul Gandhi recently, Somaiya had asked the CBI and Enforcement Directorate to "check" his links with a real estate developer allegedly involved in the CWG scam and also the alleged connections of a political aide of the Congress vice president with a middleman in the AgustaWestland deal.

Recently, Congress MP Abhishek Singhvi had in the Rajya Sabha dismissed the charges against Gandhi and his aide in the chopper case.