Abhishek Singh Abhishek Singh

The Chhattisgarh Congress on Saturday claimed to possess evidence that establishes that the name “Abhishak Singh”, which found mention in ICIJ’s offshore leaks investigation of April 2013 as having an offshore account in the British Virgin Islands, is that of Abhishek Singh, BJP Lok Sabha MP from Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh and son of three-time Chief Minister Raman Singh.

In April 2016, three years after the Offshore Leaks investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had held a press conference in Delhi and alleged that one “Abhishak Singh” was listed as a director of Quest Heights Limited, which had an address in the British Virgin Islands.

The ICIJ papers also provided an address with the name, which is the same as the address registered to Raman Singh on Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha website. Both Raman Singh and his MP-son have denied having any offshore accounts. The BJP has repeatedly stated that “Abhishak Singh” was not the same as “Abhishek Singh.”

In a statement on Saturday, Abhishek maintained, “…I want to reiterate that I have no foreign bank accounts under any name. Leaders of the Congress and others had approached the Supreme Court which has been rejected.”

Addressing the media in Raipur on Saturday, Chhattisgarh Congress president Bhupesh Baghel furnished papers of a company, ‘Chalet Estates Private Limited’, registered to an address in Gurgaon and incorporated in November 2011. According to the papers, Abhishek and wife Aishwarya were directors of the firm.

Baghel claimed that in November 2013, just before Abhishek filled his nomination for Lok Sabha polls, he resigned from the company. In his submission in Form 32, which concerns appointment and resignation of directors, Singh listed his name as “Abhishak Singh”, his father’s name as “Raman Singh”, and put residential address at “Raman Medical Store, New Bus Stand. Ward Number 20, Vindhyawasini Ward, Kawardha”, Baghel said, furnishing the papers.

This, the Congress leader pointed out, is the same address as the one registered against the CM’s name on the Assembly website.

The Congress release has a section titled evidence of “Abhishek being Abhishak”. It says signatures on Abhishek’s election affidavit of 2014 and his signatures on the memorandum of association of Chalet Real Estate and its balance sheet look the same. The party also alleged that Abhishek had first entered his name as “Abhishak Singh” on his Facebook profile when it was created in November 2013. It was changed to Abhishek Singh in March 2014.

Responding to questions from The Indian Express, Abhishek Singh, in a statement, claimed that Baghel had been involved in land grab allegations and is making “baseless” allegations.

“Me and my wife had transferred our shares of Chalet Estate Private Limited, and we now have no connections with this company. This transfer was done within the confines of the law,” the statement read.

The BJP MP stated, “I have from the start been Abhishek Singh and because of incorrect spelling in English this was rectified. I have never changed my name. During the time I was studying, it was mistakenly written as Abhishak, which was rectified by a notice that was issued, and this is public knowledge. I want to reiterate that I have no foreign bank accounts under any name.”

He stated, “Bhupesh Baghel is doing cheap politics to gain mileage.” The Congress also alleged that Abhishek and wife Aishwarya transferred their shares to Ila Kalchuri, another director in the firm and Raman Singh’s sister.

The opposition party alleged that a railway line proposed between Uslapur and Dongargarh in the state was being used to benefit the company. The party claimed that the plan of the proposed line was being changed to build a railway station in Ghotiya village, where both the firm Chalet Estate and Abhishek Singh own land.

In response, Abhishek said, “This land was bought in 2011 by Chalet Estate Private Limited and has no connection with the proposed rail project.” He added that the tracks will bring prosperity to the region, and slammed the Congress for opposing this.

Sanjay Rastogi, MD of Chhattisgarh Rail Corporation Limited, said, “Surveys of the proposed Katghora, Mungeli, Kawardha, and Dongragarh line have been done thus far from a technical and mining point of view. This is different from the line surveyed in 2011, because it had previously been surveyed beginning from Ulaspur. But now the line is beginning

from Katghora. The proposed line does not go through Ghotiya but 4 km away. No land is being taken from Ghotiya village.”

Asking Chief Minister Raman Singh to step down, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had said in a media release in April 2016, “The name of Abhishek Singh (currently BJP MP from Rajnandgaon) finds mention in the list, though the same has been spelled as Abhishak Singh.”

Giving the link to the ICIJ website “where you would find his name and his investments” —https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/ nodes/68510 — Ramesh stated, “In the said page it has been provided that Abhishak Singh is one of the shareholders of Quest Heights Ltd, an offshore company having its address as Prticullis Trust Net Chambers P.O. Box 3444 Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands. This company is part of a larger web created to hide offshore investments. Another firm also finds connection with Abhishak Singh —- Share Corp Ltd…this firm is shareholder in numerous offshore companies based out of tax havens like British Virgin Islands.”

The statement read, “The connection between Abhishek Singh and Abhishak Singh is brought out by the address provided along with the name. The address in question is c/o Raman Medical Store New Bus Stand Vindhyavasini Ward, Ward no. 20,Kawardha. Kawardha.”

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