Who gave gold biscuits to Hasmukh Adhia?

Another sensational report in The Wire on Wednesday held that Union Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia had confirmed receiving two gold biscuits around Diwali in 2016 which fell on October 30. The ‘gift’ was delivered to his house in his absence and hence he could not ascertain the identity of the donor.

Adhia, however, informed The Wire that on November 4 the same year he had written to the Cabinet Secretary about the expensive gifts which included a new Iphone-7 and the gold biscuits costing two lakh rupees. And as per the Cabinet Secretary’s instructions, he had deposited the gifts to the MEA’s toshakhana.

Neither Adhia nor Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley sought an inquiry to track the mysterious donor, though Adhia strangely enough has vehemently denied that the gifts came from the fugitive diamontier Nirav Modi, who is accused of defrauding a nationalised bank of a staggering Rs 11,000 Crore. How can Adhia be so sure if there was no investigation and he claims to have no knowledge of who had sent the gifts ?

Even more curiously, the gifts were delievered to Adhia’s home in New Motibagh Colony next to Bhikaji Cama Place in New Delhi. A residential complex for senior government officials, the complex has independent bungalows as well as large apartments in several towers. The complex is guarded heavily and entry is regulated by armed guards. CCTV cameras are also installed in the complex, which is one of the most secure places in the national capital.

Therefore, it should have been easy for the police to track visitors to the Finance Secretary’s home. But clearly, no attempt was made to track the people who delivered the gifts. It must be embarrassing for a government that prides itself on surveillance, extensive use of CCTV cameras and high-tech security.

The Wire report goes on to add that the MEA’s website, which records all the gifts deposited in the toshakhana, makes no mention of the gold biscuits allegedly deposited by Adhia, a senior Gujarat cadre IAS officer who was brought into the central government by PM Modi as Revenue Secretary first. He is said to have been one of the three people who had advance information of demonetisation of currency in November, 2016.

The Wire is awaiting confirmation from the Rashtrapati Bhavan to see if Adhia, by mistake, deposited the gold biscuits to the toshakhana where gifts given to the President are deposited.