US-based lawyer C Edmunds Allen has made the allegation against BJP's Varun Gandhi
BJP parliamentarian Varun Gandhi said today that he would sue senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan for defamation, as allegations emerged that he was blackmailed by an arms dealer into leaking information related to defence deals.
C Edmunds Allen, a US-based lawyer has made these allegations in a letter dated September 16 to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He alleges that Mr Gandhi was honey trapped and compromised into "soliciting business on Abhishek Verma's behest."
Abhishek Verma is an arms dealer and a former business partner of Mr Allen, who says in his letter that Mr Gandhi was used by Mr Verma to disclose defence details to arms manufacturers looking to score contracts for India. Mr Allen says that Mr Gandhi, a member of a parliamentary defence committee, used his information to "compromise national security."
Amid media reports on Mr Allen's letter, activists Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav claimed they had accessed the documents sent to the Prime Minister. But they did not name Mr Gandhi while alleging corruption in two defence purchases - the Scorpene submarines and Rafale fighters.
Mr Gandhi said: "Prashant Bhushan's allegations are baseless. I will file a defamation lawsuit against him."
The 36-year-old lawmaker from Uttar Pradesh rubbished the allegations as "ridiculously nonsensical" and sought proof. These were designed, he told NDTV, to damage his career.
The BJP leader has said that he met Mr Verma over 15 years ago as a 22-year-old and that he had not attended any parliamentary committee meetings referred to by Mr Allen. He also said photos presenting him as "honey-trapped" are not genuine.
Mr Verma was jailed and investigated in several cases including what is known as the navy war room leak, related to the selling of sensitive naval secrets by serving and former military officers.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar refused to comment on the controversy. "I don't want to get into an argument with people who have no understanding of these issues. This is much better deal than that was offered to us earlier," said Mr Parrikar.