One of the three associated with a shell company

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu and a junior Minister in the BJP-led Assam government, Naba Kumar Doley, figure among the 1.06 lakh disqualified directors associated with shell companies that have been “named and shamed” by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MoCA).

Mr. Khandu’s name appears as one of the three directors of Rigsel Hotels and Resorts, whose registered address with the Registrar of Companies (Shillong) is the same as the one mentioned in his election affidavit.

Registered in 2011

The company was registered on February 3, 2011, when the Arunachal Pradesh government was headed by his late father, Dorjee Khandu, and Mr. Pema Khandu was not active in politics.

Mr. Khandu did not respond when The Hindu reached out to his office for a comment.

A background search on the business activity of Rigsel Hotels showed that the company was started with a paid-up capital of ₹1.2 lakh but no details of its business activity are available in the public domain.

Mr. Doley, who is a Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs in the Assam government, has also been disqualified as a director of Abutani Wheels India, a company that is into real estate and renting out property.

He told The Hindu that he did not own any ‘shell company’, and that he has been into the real estate and automobile business since 2001.

He claimed he had been disqualified as a member from one of his companies since he had not filed Form 16 as required by the Companies Act, 2013.

“I don’t have any shell company as we have been [in business] since 2001. About two years ago, we had applied for a merger of two of our companies and because of that we had not filed Form 16. I am sure the issue will be sorted out soon,” Mr. Doley said.