Congress president Rahul Gandhi has accused the CBI of helping Vijay Mallya sneak out of India. (IndiaTV)
Continuing to target the Modi government over Vijay Mallya, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused the Cental Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of aiding the absconding former liquor baron to escape from the country. Mallya had sneaked out of India March, 2016.
Rahul Gandhi said the CBI changed the status of the lookout notice against Mallya and claimed that the PM was aware of it.
"Mallya's Great Escape was aided by the CBI quietly changing the "Detain" notice for him, to "Inform". The CBI reports directly to the PM. It is inconceivable that the CBI, in such a high profile, controversial case, would change a lookout notice without the approval of the PM," Rahul Gandhi said in his tweet.
The CBI had on Thursday said the change in a 2015 Look Out Circular against Vijay Mallya from "detain" to merely informing about his movements was an "error" in judgement because he was cooperating in the probe and there was no warrant against him.
Rahul Gandhi's charge comes a day after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) threw a counter punch, claiming that the Gandhi family tried to help Mallya's floundering Kingfisher Airlines in 2011-12.
The BJP has blamed the UPA government of giving a "sweet deal" to Kingfisher Airlines to keep it afloat and suggesting the airlines was perhaps owned by the Gandhi family.
"There is a series of letters between the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) and the SBI (State Bank of India). These letters show us how the previous dispensation under Sonia Gandhi was biased, partial and kept all norms and regulations at bay to give a sweet deal to Kingfisher Airlines," party spokesperson Sambit Patra told reporters, showing a bunch of documents.
