Amit Shah turns fraud heat on Cong, targets Amarinder Singh’s kin

New Delhi: The war of words between the Congress and the BJP over loan frauds and farm distress got shriller on Monday with BJP president Amit Shah attacking the rival party over an alleged Rs 109 crore bank fraud in which Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh’s son-in-law has been booked by the CBI.

Seeking to turn the tables on the Opposition party that has been blaming the Narendra Modi government for the PNB and Rotomac loan frauds, Mr Shah said that it is shameful that the Punjab chief minister’s relative, employed in Uttar Pradesh-based Simbhaoli Sugars company, pocketed  money meant for farmers.

“Punjab CM’s son-in-law pockets money meant for India’s hardworking farmers. What can be more shameful than this! #CongressLootsFarmers,” tweeted Mr Shah.

Captain Amarinder Singh’s son-in-law Gurpal Singh is among 11 officials of the company booked by the CBI on February 22 for causing a loss of Rs 109 crore to Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC). Gurpal Singh, one of the deputy MDs in Simbhaoli Sugars, is married to Captain Singh’s daughter Jai Inder Kaur.

The official Twitter handle of the Congress had on Monday morning tweeted in Hindi about the Simbhaoli case, claiming that a “fresh scam” which took place “right under the nose of the Modi government” had been “unearthed”. However, the tweet was hurriedly taken off the handle.

Taking on the Opposition party over its deleted tweet, Mr Shah, said, “Why delete this tweet highlighting the loot of @capt_amarinder’s son-in-law? Congress has always been at the forefront of highlighting their own robberies such as the NPA mess, bad loans, the free hand they gave to Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi. #Congress LootsFarmers.”

Mr Shah also shared a news report about the alleged bank fraud on the micro-blogging website.

Amarinder Singh dismissed the allegations made by Mr Shah. “The political attack on my son-in-law is ludicrous… The issue is being deliberately politicised, with the farming community also being unnecessarily dragged into the whole affair,” he said in a statement issued in Chandigarh.

Claiming that his son-in-law had done nothing wrong, he said, “All the vital and true facts would emerge before the judicial courts when the CBI case is taken up by them.”

The CBI last week registered a case against Simbhaoli Sugars, its chairman Gurmit Singh Mann and others in connection with the Rs 110 crore bank loan given in 2015.

Simbhaoli Sugars was earlier granted another loan of around Rs 150 crore in 2011, to finance over 5,700 sugarcane farmers under an RBI scheme, but the money allegedly never reached them. Both loans, from OBC, were not repaid, sources said.

CBI carried out searches at eight premises, including the residences of directors, factory, corporate office and registered office of the company, in Delhi, Hapur and Noida in connection with the case on Sunday.