'Fraud' Gujarat firm linked to BJP leaders: Congress

New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday alleged that the owner of Vadodara-based Diamond Power Infrastructure Ltd (DPIL) has active connection with senior BJP leaders. The CBI on Thursday said it has registered a criminal case against DPIL, the company which deals in electric cable and equipment, and its directors for allegedly cheating various banks of about Rs 2,654 crore.

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said that the murky dealing and crony business of DPIL was exposed now. "If chhota Modi's (Nirav Modi) pictures with the prime minister were not enough, there is now a proof of chhota Amit. The photograph of Amit Bhatnagar, the owner of the company, with Prime Minister Modi and Union minister Piyush Goyal — which are on social media — are clear proof of BJP having active connection with the fraudsters," said Mr Khera.

He alleged that Mr Bhatnagar had been one of the chief financiers of the BJP in Vadodara, Gujarat. Mr Khera alleged that Saurabh Patel, who was the energy minister of Gujarat in 2016, and Mr Bhatnagar had organised a five-day Global Expo-SWITCH in Vadodara at the expense of public money. He did not offer any evidence of misuse of public money.

In a statement, the Congress leader claimed Mr Bhatnagar's modus operandi was similar to previous banking frauds which involved false stock statements, extensively utilising of cash credit limits to obtain a large number of Letters of Credit. "About 1,000 such Letters of Credit issued by Bank of India alone devolved, which included at least 16 LCs amounting to Rs 110.79 crore issued in the name of Ruby Cables Ltd," he said.

Amit Bhatnagar and Sumit Bhatnagar were directors of Ruby Cables between July 2013 and August 2015, according to the statement. "DPIL managed to get the credit facilities despite appearing in the RBI's Defaulters List and ECGC Caution List at the time of initial sanction of Credit Limits by the Consortium. DPIL accounts in Bank of India and Bank of Baroda were declared NPA on February 16, 2016. Other banks declared company's accounts NPA from December, 2017," Mr Khera alleged.