No clean chit to Raje's son, says Jaitley

A day after Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari rallied behind beleaguered Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and her family in Lalitgate, his Cabinet colleague Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday that Raje’s son, Dushyant Singh, is yet to get a clean chit.

Jaitley, who is on official trip to the United States, told reporters that assessing authorities would continue to do their job with regard to the probe into the over Rs 11 crore transaction between Dushyant and disgraced former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi. 

He also asserted that his previous remarks on the issue were misinterpreted. Attributing to the finance minister, news reports had stated that Jaitley was of the view that the dealing between the two was “commercial transaction” which gave the opposition enough ground to criticise him for “influencing” the investigating agencies.

Lalit Modi, settled in London since 2010 when money laundering charges against him were being probed by agencies, continued to dig out hidden old details to take potshots at Jaitley, Congress leader Rajeev Shukla and former BCCI chief N Srinivasan.  

At a time when Union Minister Sushma Swaraj, Raje and Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria have drawn ire for meeting controversial cricket administrator in the UK, Lalit Modi himself tweeted to reveal that even Jaitley met him alone at a London hotel while he was leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha.

“Mr @arunjaitley whilst you were leader of the opposition did u meet Mr Lalit Modi alone in #London for hours at the #stjamescourt taj hotel,” he posted.

He also said that Srinivasan has met Jaitley three times after he became finance minister but accused the media of “forgetting” it.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is under pressure to take a decision, has got a report on Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria meeting with his former-IPL boss in the UK without bringing it to the notice of the earlier Congress regime.