Congress accuses Gujarat police of inaction when Nirav Modi and Choksi duped people of Rs 50 billion

pnb, punjab national bank

The Congress party on Friday alleged the bank fraud involving jewellers and not only syphoned Rs 213 billion from public sector banks, but also cheated India‘s middle class of Rs 50 billion.

Gujarat Congress leader and national spokesperson said owned Limited had floated three jewellery investment schemes — Shagun, Swarna Mangal Labh (SML) and Swarna Mangal Kalash (SMK).

He said under these schemes people seeking to buy jewellery were given an attractive option to earn a return on investment. People needed to pay 11 instalments, while the Gitanjali Group promised to pay the 12th as free. Tenures of these instalments ranged from 12, 24, or 36 months. At the end of this tenure, the accumulated money could be redeemed for jewellery with the added bonus of up to 50 per cent, Gohil said.

“But people were duped into these schemes. In a large number of cases, neither the instalment was paid nor jewellery given or invested amount returned,” Gohil said. A large number of police complaints were filed in Gujarat by way of affidavits in September 2015. The Congress released some of these affidavits.

Another set of complaints were filed against the Gitanjali Group in October 2017. Gohil alleged the Gujarat police didn’t act on the complaints. “The interesting fact here is that the complaints were filed on October 10, 2017.

But the Gujarat police waited until January 25, 2018, by when and Choksi had fled the country along with their families,” Gohil said. The Congress leader said there are several cases across Gujarat against and Choksi, but the state police didn’t act. He termed it “jan dhan loot yojana”.

Gohil said despite these cases against the Gitanjali Group, the Vijay Rupani government of Gujarat projected Gitanjali Group as a “collaborator” for the 2017 Vibrant Gujarat summit of 2017, which was held between January 10 to 13, 2017. The Congress furnished evidence of this.

“Why is the BJP silent on the connections between and Choksi with their leadership. Isn’t it true that Choksi was one of the select few invited at the PM’s inauguration of the gold monetization scheme in 2015?” Gohil asked.

The Congress had earlier released a video clip where the PM can be heard acknowledging Choksi’s presence at the event and addressing him with “great affection” as “hamare Mehul bhai (our brother Mehul)” in his address to the gathering.

was photographed with the PM in Davos. Why is the PM shy of admitting his connections with Choksi and Neerav Modi?” Gohil asked. The Congress leader alleged that Aparna Chudasama, sister-in-law of BJP’s Maharashtra leader and spokesperson Shaina NC, was the head of sales in Nirav Modi’s company.

Gohil said Choksi and Geetanjali Group had showcased designs by at an exhibition in August 2015, where Amruta Fadnavis, wife of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, and Anar Patel, daughter of the then Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel, were present as guests of honour. He said Choksi had advertised the event in newspapers.http://www.business-standard.com/article/finance/gitanjali-gems-was-a-partner-for-vibrant-gujarat-summit-2017-congress-118022300821_1.html