File photo of Vasundhara Raje and cricket tycoon Lalit Modi
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje was a direct beneficiary of controversial cricket tycoon Lalit Modi's Rs 13-crore investment in a firm owned by her son, the Opposition Congress alleged on Friday, as the politician fends off demands for her resignation.
The Congress released papers filed by Ms Raje ahead of her election in 2013 in which she said she owned nearly 3,000 shares in Niyant Heritage Hotels Limited, owned by her son, Dushyant Singh, who is a law-maker.
In Rajasthan, BJP leaders said the shares were gifted to Ms Raje by her son and daughter-in-law and the fact that she declared them among her assets proves she has nothing to hide.
In 2007, Mr Modi loaned the firm nearly three crores; around the same time, Mr Modi bought Rs 10 shares in Niyant Heritage at nearly Rs 96,000 each - the massive premium he paid has led to allegations of a deal seeped in dodginess.
BJP bosses earlier on Friday reportedly accepted Ms Raje's defense of the transaction. She allegedly claimed that Mr Modi paid big bucks for equity in her son's firm because the real estate value of the Raje family's assets, including its ancestral palace, was worth more than Rs 300 crore. But Mr Singh's tax returns filed in 2013 show the family palace not as an asset of his firm, but in the name of a dependent; the value of the heritage mansion is declared as Rs 16 crore.
Ms Raje, her party said today, did no wrong by signing a statement backing Mr Modi's immigration plea in the UK in 2011 when he was wanted in India to answer grave corruption charges. Cornered by the leak of the document, the BJP said that it was "only a draft statement" that was not followed up by testimony in court from Ms Raje. The party said Ms Raje provided the statement in her personal capacity, and not as then Leader of the Opposition in Rajasthan.
Congress Releases Vasundhara Raje's 2013 Election Affidavit