Citing an RTI reply, the Congress has alleged that within five days of demonetization, scrapped currency bills worth Rs 3,118.51 crore were deposited in eleven Gujarat district cooperative banks linked to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), according to media reports.
अमित शाह के अहमदाबाद कोऑपरेटिव बैंक के लिए 'नोटबंदी' बना 'नोटबदली'!
Old notes worth ₹3118.51Cr deposited in 5 days of DeMo in BJP controlled 11 District Co-op Banks in Guj!
₹14293.71Cr deposited in Co-op banks in BJP+ ruled states!
Will it get investigated? #ShahZyadaKhaGaya pic.twitter.com/OBF4P5wgKV
— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) June 22, 2018
Background
Yesterday, the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) published a report on the RTI information cited by the Congress. These details were obtained by the activist Manoranjan S Roy and provided by the chief general manager and appellate authority of NABARD.
The RTI information shows the Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank (ADCB) had received the highest deposits of demonetized notes (among district co-op banks) and received Rs 745.59 crore within five days of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement on November 8, 2016, IANS said.
The news agency said BJP president Amit Shah was the bank’s chairman in 2000 and continues to be a director — a position he has held for several years.
Congratulations Amit Shah ji , Director, Ahmedabad Dist. Cooperative Bank, on your bank winning 1st prize in the conversion of old notes to new race. 750 Cr in 5 days!
Millions of Indians whose lives were destroyed by Demonetisation, salute your achievement. #ShahZyadaKhaGaya pic.twitter.com/rf1QaGmzxV
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 22, 2018
Not just ADCB but other banks as well
The IANS report had also pointed out ADCB was closely followed by the Rajkot District Cooperative Bank, whose chairman Jayeshbhai Vitthalbhai Radadiya is a cabinet minister in Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani’s government. It got deposits of old currencies worth Rs 693.19 crore.
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The report mentioned that the figures of Ahmedabad-Rajkot DCCBs are much higher than the apex Gujarat State Cooperative Bank Ltd, which got deposits of a mere Rs 1.11 crore.
News agencies have taken down their articles on this incident
A few hours after they had put it up, a few news publications appeared to have taken down the story related to the demonetized notes. Among those who took down the story was News18, and Firstpost. While the links to the article on News18 showed a 404 error, indicating that the page could not be found, the Firstpost page could not be loaded, even as the rest of the website was responsive. Network 18 is the parent organization of Firstpost and News18, which in turn is owned by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries. The New Indian Express also seems to have removed its initial story and then published it again.
