No need for investigation as such allegations are levelled from time to time, says Home Minister

Home Minister Rajnath Singh said here on Tuesday that the allegations against Jay Shah, son of BJP president Amit Shah, had no basis and did not require an investigation.

Asked about the report on a news portal about the business dealings of Mr. Jay Shah, the Minister said such allegations were levelled “from time to time”.

“Such allegations had surfaced in the past too,” he told presspersons on the sidelines of an event to inaugurate the new headquarters of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The news portal reported that a firm owned by Mr. Jay Shah saw a huge rise in turnover after the BJP came to power in 2014.

The BJP and Mr. Jay Shah have denied the charge, and termed the report “false, derogatory and defamatory”. Mr. Singh said that he had stopped the practice of NIA sending papers to the Home Ministry for “prior approval”.

“It’s an autonomous organisation and has gained the trust of the people. The charge sheets filed by the NIA are perfect and the agency has a 95% conviction rate,” he said.

He said that NIA’s crackdown on flow of funds from the “neighbouring country” to finance unrest in Kashmir had dealt a blow to terror and separatist groups.

Crackdown on fake notes

He said the NIA cracked down on a syndicate of criminals who had been peddling quality fake currency notes which acted as “oxygen for terrorism”.

“No civilised country can accept the rise of terrorism on its soil. It obstructs development,” he said.

Mr. Singh said five or six terrorists were killed in Jammu and Kashmir every day because of the sustained efforts of the Army, paramilitary forces and other security agencies.

166 cases

Earlier, in his welcome speech, NIA Director-General Sharad Kumar said 166 cases had been assigned to the NIA for investigation since the inception of the organisation in 2009.

Of the 166 cases, 63 pertain to ‘jihadi’ terrorism, 25 to terrorist acts by northeast insurgents, 41 to cases of terror financing and fake currency, 13 to cases involving Left-wing extremism and the remaining 24 to miscellaneous terrorist acts or gangs, he said.

Y.C. Modi, who will assume charge as the chief of the NIA on November 1, said: “I will live up to your [government] expectations, I will not let you down.”

Such allegations had surfaced in the past too ... they have no basis