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HomePoliticsAbhishek Manu Singhvi: BJP's latest bugbear in the Congress

Abhishek Manu Singhvi: BJP’s latest bugbear in the Congress

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BJP claimed Nirav Modi was a tenant in commercial property owned by Abhishek Singhvi’s family company; the Congress spokesperson called it ‘cheap politics’.

New Delhi: Cornered after the PNB scam accused Nirav Modi — who was seen in a group photograph with PM Narendra Modi in Davos — escaped from India, the BJP led-NDA government was left scrambling to defend itself.

The best option it seems was to blame the Congress — and so Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Congress spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP, was brought into the limelight, in what seems like a strange twist of events.

On 17 February, Defence Minsiter Nirmala Sitharaman held a press conference on the Rs 11,400-crore scam in which celebrity jeweller Nirav Modi is the main accused. Apart from saying that the “original sin” — the scam — had begun under the UPA government, she also tried to cast suspicion on Singhvi, who is also a top Supreme Court lawyer.

Sitharaman claimed that Firestar Diamond International, a company run by Nirav Modi, had taken a property on lease from Adwait Holdings, trying to imply that Singhvi had some connection to Modi. Singhvi’s wife and sons are directors at Adwait Holdings, and own properties across Mumbai.

Lashing out at the claim, Singhvi accused the BJP of playing “cheap politics” by saying that just because Nirav Modi was a tenant in a commercial property owned by his family company, it didn’t mean that he was involved in Modi’s business dealings.

He tweeted that neither Adwait Holdings nor his family has any interest in Nirav Modi, and that Firestar Diamond International gave notice to quit their tenancy in August, and vacated the Kamla Mills property in Mumbai’s Parel in December, 2017.

Except for Sitharaman’s statement, nothing else has been said about Singhvi in connection to Nirav Modi.

Two days after the Defence Minister’s press conference, however, TV channel Times Now accessed invoices that are allegedly Singhvi’s. The invoices indicate that Singhvi’s wife, ghazal singer Anita Singhvi, made an “accounted purchase” of Rs 1.55 crore and an “unaccounted purchase” or Rs 4.89 crore.

Rs 1.5 crore was used to buy jewellery, for which there is a “proper invoice”. A second entry, filed by Nirav Modi, shows an “unaccounted” payment of Rs 4.89 crore.

Singhvi denied all such allegations and categorically stated that his wife purchased some jewellery that had been paid for with a cheque. He tweeted that Times Now “conveniently carries selectively leaked doc allegedly recovered frm someone’s PC.”

“How does one channel (govts fav) get this unknown list from unknown computer not disclosed to any notice?” Singhvi tweeted. Apart from this news report, there is no other report on Singhvi’s wife’s expenditure. Stating that he’s among the highest taxpayers in his category, Singhvi tweeted that “harassment, innuendo, insinuation must have its limits”.

The income tax department also got involved at this point, and sent him a notice. Singhvi had already tweeted that the questionnaire sent by the income tax department would be answered in accordance with the law, and all necessary documents would be furnished. His wife, Anita Singhvi, has since provided her income tax returns.

But this wasn’t the first time this was happening. In 2014, the I-T department imposed a penalty of Rs 56.67 crore on Singhvi. The department and the Settlement Commission added over Rs 91.95 crore to his declared income, and contested the fact that he had spent Rs 5 crore on laptops for his staff over three financial years, which the tax department calculated would amount to about 1,250 laptops for a staff of 14 people. At the time, he said he could not furnish documents to back his claim because a termite attack at his accountant’s office had destroyed them. This case is still in court.

Apart from the income tax row, Singhvi has courted another controversy before. The senior lawyer was in the soup and removed as a Congress spokesperson after a sex video allegedly featuring him. He was one of the probables for a ministerial post then. His supporters blamed “jealous” party colleagues for the “frame-up”.

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