Rajnath defends BJP over Nirav Modi, Mallya case

Lucknow : Amid allegations of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) having given leeway for billionaire businessmen Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya and others to flee the country, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh questioned as to how they got the money in the first place.

"After the recent banking scams were unearthed, people are saying that that it was the BJP government who allowed Nirav Modi, Mallya and other such offenders to flee the country. However, I would like to ask, how did these people get the money in the first place? Who sanctioned loans to them?" Rajnath said at the Holi Milan Samaroh here on Saturday.

Talking about the recently introduced Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, Rajnath said the main aim behind it is for the government to seize the property of those economic offenders who flee the country to reside abroad.

For the unversed, Punjab National Bank (PNB) in February had detected a 1.77 billion dollar scam wherein noted jewellery designer Nirav Modi had acquired letters of undertaking (LoUs) to avail credit from various sources.

On the other hand, Mallya is facing extradition trial in the London court for financial irregularities involving a total amount of Rs 9,000 crores as well as money laundering cases in India.

On a related note, the Union Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the proposal to introduce the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill 2018 in the Parliament, earlier this month.

Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill 2018 was proposed to confiscate the assets of a fugitive, including Benami assets.