Assam Congress’ Twitter account today morning plugged a Times of India article which talked about the Rs. 5,000 crore fraud accused Nitin Sandesara may have fled to Nigeria, which does not have an extradition treaty with India.
https://twitter.com/INCAssam/status/1044093354806370305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The tweet talked about how ‘another Gujarati, one more bank fraud, same modus operandi of fleeing from country’, insinuating that businessmen from Gujarat, prime minister Modi and BJP president Amit Shah’s home state, have an easy way out after they get accused of financial frauds. Earlier, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, the duo accused of multi-crore PNB scam, also Gujaratis, have fled the country.
While it is indeed true that Sandesara is a Gujarati businessman who is accused of Rs. 5,000 crore bank fraud and having allegedly set up more than 300 shell companies in India and abroad, is now believed to have fled Dubai and reached Nigeria. However, Assam Congress forgot to add one small detail that Sandesara is a close aide of Congress leader Ahmed Patel.
Sandesara brothers first came under the radar of investigating agencies in 2011 after the income tax department searched their house in Vadodara and recovered a diary with details of payoffs to high profile politician (Congress Leader Ahmed Patel) and their relatives. Later, based on the diary entries, cases against three I-T officers at the level of commissioners and principal commissioners were registered.
As the Enforcement Directorate tightened its investigation, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel’s association in this case resurfaced. Earlier this month, ED produced a man named Ranjit Malik, alias Jonny, before the duty magistrate of a Delhi court, who granted his custody to the agency for a day, for allegedly sending Rs 25 lakh cash to the official residence of a senior Congress leader, Ahmed Patel.
Earlier too, Sunil Yadav, employed by the Sandesara group, had alleged the involvement of senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, his son, Faisal Patel, and his son-in-law, Irfan Siddiqui in the same, through his written statement to the directorate.
This tweet of Assam Congress not only managed to publicise a case where their own leader is accused of being involved in, but it also hurt the pride of Gujaratis as the entire community was maligned and generalised for the deeds of a few.
https://twitter.com/VishakhaJ18/status/1044182987271802881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/LostByWaves/status/1044184511397810176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/DimpleAtra/status/1044181620448608257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/quest_illusion/status/1044173967957905408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw