BJP exposes Pawan Bansal's close business links to nephew Singla

Chandigarh: BJP leader Satya Pal Jain today held a press conference in Chandigarh to elaborate on Pawan Bansal’s links with his tainted nephew Vijay Singla. Singla was arrested by the CBI yesterday for demanding a bribe of Rs 90 lakh from senior rail official Mahesh Kumar in return for getting him promoted to a top post in the Railways. [caption id=“attachment_753251” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The BJP demanded Bansal be sacked. Agencies.[/caption] “Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal very conveniently declared that he has no links with Singla’s businesses and that he had not been in touch with his nephew. But documents of Singla’s businesses show otherwise,” said Jain, adding, “Had he not been guilty, he wouldn’t have stayed quiet about the allegations.” Jain claimed that Bansal’s sons, daughter-in-law, wife and another nephew are associated with almost all the ventures Singla is involved in. “In fact, in one company where Singla is a director, the other director’s residence address is listed as Pawan Kumar Bansal’s home address. How is it possible then that Bansal had no clue about what was going on?” asked Jain. He added that Bansal’s secretary, IAS officer Rahul Bhandari was also his sister’s son-in-law. Jain alleged that Bhandari too was involved in several of these deals. He asked why no governmental procedure was initiated against Bansal after the news of Singla’s arrest broke. “We demand Bansal come out and give details of all the companies his wife and sons are directors of. He should also tell us which companies he has invested in, and whether he has either borrowed or lent money on behalf of these companies,” said Jain. The BJP leader applauded the CBI for ‘daring’ to arrest a senior minister’s kin. “If the government tries to pressurise the CBI and shut the case, we would knock on the doors of the Supreme Court,” he said, demanding Bansal be questioned immediately and sacked from the cabinet.