Cooperative bank with Amit Shah as director files defamation case against Rahul Gandhi

Another criminal defamation case has been filed against Congress President Rahul Gandhi, this time by the Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank. Media reports held that the case has been filed against the Congress president and party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala for making allegedly false statements that the cooperative bank had collected Rs 750 crore in denotified currency notes in just five days in November, 2016.

BJP national president Amit Shah happened to have been associated with the ADCB and had also been a past chairman. He remained a director of the cooperative bank.

According to reports, the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate SK Gadhvi has initiated an inquiry under Section 202 of the CrPC to determine if there are sufficient grounds to proceed with the case. The court has fixed September 17 as the next date of hearing.

An RTI reply from NABARD, which controls and monitors the cooperative banks, had confirmed that the bank in question had received the amount between November 9 and November 13 after the Prime Minister demonetised 87% of the currency in circulation from midnight on November 8.

Cooperative banks were then abruptly stopped from exchanging denotified currency, raising suspicion that the window of five days had been deliberately provided to launder money. Following an uproar that cooperative banks were sitting over a large number of denotified currency, the Government opened another window to the Cooperative banks in the middle of 2017 and allowed them to exchange denotified notes.

The Indian National Congress and Rahul Gandhi have consistently criticised the decision to demonetise 87% of the currency in circulation and voiced their suspicion that there was much more to it than met the eyes. The party has been demanding an inquiry into demonetisation.