TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Congress president Rahul Gandhi has alleged that the government had evidence to arrest diamond trader Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi months before they fled the country but did not do so as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s daughter was hired as Choksi’s lawyer.
He also demanded Mr Jaitley’s resignation. “8 months before they were allowed to flee, the IT department wrote a 10,000 page report on Chota Modi & Choksi’s massive fraud,” Mr Gandhi said on Twitter.
“Govt had evidence to arrest them. But didn’t because FM Jaitlie’s (sic) daughter was hired as Choksi’s lawyer,” he said, adding that the finance minister must resign. Mr Gandhi tagged a media report which claimed that IT report waved red flags eight months before the PNB scam broke, but was not shared with other agencies.
No immediate reaction from the government was available, but both the government and Mr Jaitley have rejected all such allegations in the past. Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala also alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Jaitley allowed the jewellers to flee the country.