A defamation case was filed in a metropolitan court in Ahmedabad on Monday against Congress President Rahul Gandhi and party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala by the Ahmedabad District Co-operative Bank (ADCB) over their allegations that the bank was involved in a 'scam' to convert Rs 750 crore within five days of demonetisation.
The plea filed by the ADCB and its chairman stated that the two leaders had levelled 'false and defamatory' allegations against the bank.
Taking to Twitter, Rahul Gandhi had said, “Congratulations Amit Shah ji, Director, Ahmedabad Dist Cooperative Bank, on your bank winning 1st prize in the conversion of old notes to new race. 750 Cr in 5 days! Millions of Indian whose lives were destroyed by Demonetisation, salute your achievement.”
Congress leader Randeep Surjewala had claimed that Ajay Patel, the chairman of Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank, which mobilised Rs 745.58 crore worth of banned notes in just four days in November 2016, is a “close associate” of BJP president Amit Shah who is a director and former chairman of the bank.
While demanding a probe into the deposits, Surjewala had said that the RTI reply had “exposed an attempt to convert black into white money in the guise of demonetisation”.
A metropolitan court has ordered an inquiry into the allegation under section 202 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
The allegations were made by Gandhi and Surjewala, days after NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) had issued a response to an RTI query filed by a Mumbai-based activist. According to the RTI response an Ahmedabad entity had topped the list of cooperative banks that accepted Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes after the note ban decision was announced.
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