New Delhi: The raging controversy over the tainted businessman, Nirav Modi and co accused, Mehul Choksi in the Rs 11,400 crore Punjab national Bank fraud took a fresh turn with the Congress releasing a video in which Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi mentioning Choksi in a public function in 2015.
The video, released by the Congress shows the Prime Minister saying “Lekin bank se jyada usko apni sonar pe bhadosa hain. Woh bade se bade jewellery ke showroom mein jayega aur lane ke baad aapne sonar ke yahan jayega jara check kar le bhai. Kitna hi bada showroom hoga, hamare Mehul bhai yahan baithe hain. (He has more confidence on his goldsmiths than the banks. Even if he picks up jewellery from big showrooms he would get them checked by his goldsmiths... Mehul bhai is siting here...”
The Congress spokesperson, Randeep Surjewala while releasing the video calimed that the function was held during the gold monetisation scheme announced by the govrnment in 2015.
Congress pointed out that while briefing the media on the PNB scam on Thursday, the Union law minister, Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad, while talking to media, had feigned complete ignorance about Choksi but went on to claim that the “income” of Mehul Choksi, the promoter of Geetanjali Jewels, had doubled during the UPA regime from 2011-2012.
Late on Friday evening, reacting to the video released by the Congress, Union HRD minister, Prakash Javdekar felt that “showing videos and photographs is wrong”. Tacitly referring to Congress president, who is out on bail in the National Herald case, the HRD minister said, “If someone takes photograph with Rahul Gandhi in Parliament, will it be seen as having some sort of link with the person, who’s out on bail?” Mr Javadekar alleged that Rahul attended an exhibition of Nirav Modi on September 13 in 2013 and the bank officials met a day later to decide on sanctioning the loan to Choksi.
As the political slugfest continued, the external affairs ministry claimed that the government “does not know where Nirav Modi is”, even as a tv channel claimed to have tracked him in New York.
