AAP puts in public domain irrefutable evidence Mr Narendra Modi having received bribe from Birla group

Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi and the BJP are running scared of the revelations made in the diaries seized from the Birla and Sahara groups, which reveal direct payment of bribes to Mr Modi when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

These facts were put in public domain by the Aam Aadmi Party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on 15^th November and the BJP has since been only abusing the AAP and its leadership, but does not have the guts to rebut the AAP allegations.   

AAP national spokesperson Ashish Khetan on Thursday challenged Mr Modi and the BJP to deny the following facts including seizure of documents by the IT department which clearly provide evidence of bribe having been paid to Mr Narendra Modi :   

1.      On 15^th October 2013, the Income Tax Department raided the 4^th Floor, UCO Bank, Building, Parliament Street, New Delhi. This floor was being used as an office by M/s ABMCPL (Aditya Birla Management Corporation Pvt. Ltd.).Asa result of this raid, Rs. 25,00,00,000/- (Rupees Twenty Five Crore Only) was recovered in cash from a safe. At the same time, certain diaries and other documents were also recovered. The documents revealed a nexus of ‘hawala’ transactions conducted from the premises.

2.      In his statement under Section 131(1A) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter “IT Act, 1961”) Mr. Anand Saxena DGM (Accounts) revealed that the cash was kept on instructions of Shubhendu Amitabh, Group Executive Vice-President. He added that this cash was obtained from angadia (hawala operators) and that he did not know the purpose of these transactions. He also stated that he maintained the recovered notebook as per instructions from Shubhendu Amitabh, Furthermore, He added that the abbreviations and codes used were told to him by Shubhendu Amitabh.

3.      The Forensic evidence recovered from the laptop and hard disk of Mr. Shubhendu Amitabh reveals potentially incriminating information that requires further investigation:

a.       An email dated  02 July 2012 sent by Bhuvan Chandra to Shubhendu Amitabh. It stated that BGH Exim officials were in touch with DRI and had approached one Mr. GS Rao, IRS to settle the issue which was further precipitated. Furthermore, it stated that their sources have confirmed that DRI had enough evidence to proceed and were only collecting more information to make a stronger case.  The email also stated the way forward which included “to weaken the prosecution report with the help of sources.”

b.       In an email again written by Bhuvan Chandra to Shubhendu Amitabh dated 15 April 2013 titled “Tourists” he again emphasises the role “ DRI had to circumvent its investigations into other cases” He further stated  that they had been able to “overcome this hurdle making best use of our sources.” Furthermore, he adds that “as agreed upon the investigations have been restricted to exports of iron ore alone. No other can of worms has been opened/ focussed

c.        In an email from Mr. Atul Daga addressed to Shubhendu Amitabh and marked to others titled “365 days license for AP”, Mr. Daga asks him to “balance” the payments out as the amount for the earlier license for 3 years was 25 and now for 2 years is 35

d.      In a message recovered from Mr. Shubendhu Amitabh’s laptop is a message dated 16 November 2012 titled “GC October/ November” where payments are allegedly made to the Gujarat CM. It states:“Gujarat CM – 25 crores (12 Done – rest?). Ramakant Saboo WEF Davos meet”. The same is self-explanatory.

e.       In a message dated 13 May  2013 sending from Shubhendu Amitabh to himself gives a list of transactions to various parties including – “RKK 10 cr (1.5cr) OK” and “Veerappa M – GC – Cement Opp – CCI  Report/ penalty---- 2 cr – OK”  The same have not been investigated by either the income tax department or the CBI. Veerappa M might refer to Mr. Veerappa Moily, ex-Minister for Corporate Affairs which has some role to play in the administration of the CCI (Competition Commission of India). A hefty penalty was imposed by the CCI on the Aditya Birla Group cement business along with other cement companies.Mr. Shubhendu Amitbah’s response, when asked about this, and other messages, was that these are all personal real estate transactions and will be explained in the worksheet. He has also said that all these names are ‘coded’. While not making any imputations regarding Mr. Moily, it is evident that the same requires investigation.

4.      Thereafter, the Income Tax Department searched the residence in Noida Uttar Pradesh and bank lockers of Shri Shubhendu Amitabh, Group Vice President,ABMCPL on the 16^thOctober 2013. Apart from cash, jewellery and other valuables, the income tax department also seized Mr. Shubhendu Amitabh’s Laptop and mobile phone. The Laptop and Mobile phone revealed that Mr. Shubhendu Amitabh made payments to many parties, and also revealed instances where the Department of Revenue Intelligence, Central Government Departments andState Government Departments seem to have granted undue favours to the group. The said emails and backups of SMSs reveal many such instances where wrong-doing can be safely inferred. There are further instances which record names and amounts which need to be investigated as they seem to refer to government departments and ministers.

5.      The Report of the Income Tax Department dated 27.02.2014 concludes that:

“i. On the basis of search action , proceedings are required to be initiated us 153 A and related provisions of th IT Act, 1961 in the cases of M/s ABMCPL and Shri. Shubhendu Amitabh.