Former judge puts Congress on back foot over Nirav Modi scam
Retired Allahabad High Court judge Abhay Thipsay’s bizarre deposition before a UK court that the case against fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi ripping off the Punjab National Bank is unlikely to stand legal scrutiny in India, brought back memories of Kapil Sibal’s zero-loss spin to the 2G spectrum scam. Dilating on the concept of deceiver and deceived in Indian jurisprudence, the learned judge argued that a section of the bank’s employees were deceivers, but no one was deceived as PNB is not a real person.
Weird as his professional opinion might be, his post-retirement induction into the Congress in 2018 after a meeting with Rahul Gandhi gave it the political colour the party could have done without. For, it was Rahul who had made Nirav Modi and his relative Mehul Choksi’s escape from India after the PNB scam broke the centrepiece of his attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And the Congress had flogged a retainership deal Choksi had with the law firm of late Arun Jaitley’s daughter to allege collusion. The boot is now on the other foot as the BJP is accusing Thipsay of offering legal service to Nirav Modi at the behest of the Congress high command. Just as Jaitley rubbished all charges against his daughter, Thipsay claimed he offered his services to London-based Boutique Law LLP, the firm defending Nirav Modi, in his personal capacity, adding it was a paid consultation. Thipsay is now playing the victim card, saying he is being targeted because he heard cases like the Best Bakery retrial.
For much of Modi 1.0, Jaitley as finance minister deflected Rahul’s charges of letting economic offenders flee the country with the loot. The pursuit of one such offender, liquor baron Vijay Mallya, is about to end as Britain is expected to order his extradition within weeks. When Mallya does arrive, the BJP can be expected to spin it as the PM walking the talk as against the Congress ‘intervention’ to protect Nirav Modi. While Thipsay is fighting a lone battle, the Congress would be forced to step in to manage the optics sooner or later. Remember the BJP had to jettison brilliant maverick Ram Jethmalani for defending former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s assassins in court.