PNB fraud case: Govt hits back at Congress

Hitting out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi for accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of guiding people to loot the country, Union Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla on Thursday said the grand-old party is in itself a government full of scams.

Speaking to media here, Shukla said, "This scam is happening from 2011, and we were not in government that time. If Congress is making allegations, were they sleeping from 2011-14? They should have probed it. The current government is taking cognizance of matters and probing them. Congress was a government of scams and they established these scamsters".

His remark comes after the Congress chief on Thursday slammed jewellery designer Nirav Modi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and released a guide to "looting" the country.

Rahul Gandhi in a sarcastic tweet took out a "guide to looting India" by "Nirav Modi" and stated a few pointers in doing so.

"1. Hug PM Modi, 2. Be seen with him in Davos," tweeted Gandhi.

He added that the same "clout" is used to steal Rs. 12,000 crore.

"Slip out of the country like (Vijay) Mallya, while the Government looks the other way," Gandhi said.

Earlier on February 5, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked noted jewellery designer Nirav Modi, his brother Nishal Modi and Punjab National Bank (PNB) officials for cheating the bank to the tune of Rs 280.7 crore.

The action comes after the Income Tax department raided Modi's offices in Delhi, Surat and Jaipur.

Nirav Modi, an Indian born jewellery designer and founder of USD 2.3 billion Firestar Diamond, has designer jewellery boutiques across three continents - in London, New York, Las Vegas, Hawai, Singapore, Beijing and Macau.