Mehul Choksi, uncle of Nirav Modi, was invited to the Bengal global business summit in Kolkata in January. The West Bengal BJP has turned the heat on Mamata Banerjee by uploading the picture of Finance Minister Amit Mitra along with Choksi, who is on the run in the PNB fraud case.
Dilip Ghosh, BJP state president, said “According to Mamata Banerjee, her finance minister is also guilty in the case. We seek an explanation from her on why Choksi was so close with Amit Mitra.”
West Bengal government has not given an official response on the issue. But the Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said that two things were completely different.
Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee said at a public meeting in Murshidabad that not only PNB, but many other banks too were engaged in such scams. She went on to name some banks too. “Not only PNB, there are banks like Bank Of Baroda, Canara Bank etc. where such fraudulent activities have taken place. I have information,” she claimed.
Connecting it with demonetisation, she said “I have information that after demonetisation, many people were recruited. The loot was planned at that time. Now, I understand why they were desperate for demonetisation."
The chief minister claimed that "many big fishes" were responsible for this scam.
“I demand that all such big fishes should be caught immediately. It cannot be the handiwork of a few. Who are they? What are their names? Central government must reveal the names,” she demanded.
Calling the BJP rule the ill fate of the nation, she said “It’s our misfortune that a party like BJP is in power in Delhi.”
Banerjee went on to mock the BJP’s decision to set up the “biggest party office in the world” in Delhi. “They are so shameless. They spend such huge money for party office when half of India is starving. Such a shame these people are,” said the chief minister.
Meanwhile, ED has launched a major raid in Nirav Modi’s jewellery outlets in Kolkata and Durgapur. ED sources have said that the raids would continue in the future as well.