Gadkari accused of financial misappropriation, calls it vendetta

Social activist Anjali Damania on Thursday told the media that Gadkari had allegedly profited by awarding contracts for toll collection and road construction to Ideal Energy and its group companies, in which his son Nikhil was a partner

MUMBAI: Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari is being accused of financial misappropriation, money laundering and leveraging his official position for profit, charges his office have dismissed as baseless and politically motivated.

Nitin Gadkari (Bloomberg)

Nevertheless, social activist Anjali Damania on Thursday told the media that Gadkari had allegedly profited by awarding contracts for toll collection and road construction to Ideal Energy Projects Limited (IEPL) and its group companies, in which his son Nikhil was a partner. The company had been awarded contracts in various states, including Maharashtra.

Damania also demanded action against the senior BJP minister under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, in a case that involves two of his sons and IEPL, which declared bankruptcy a few years ago.

A spokesperson for Gadkari said, “These are politically motivated allegations without an iota of substance. These wild allegations against the tribunal (NCLT) are illogical. Though no decision has been taken, the minister may take an action for defamation.”

Addressing the media in Mumbai, Damania claimed that Gadkari’s son Nikhil was a shareholder in IEPL, established by the Mhaiskar family, who shot into the limelight during the Sena-BJP government’s rule in the late 1990s, when they bagged major toll contracts in the state. The company was cleared to take bank loans amounting to ₹1,170 crore and went on to set up a coal-based power generation company in Bela village in Nagpur to generate 540 MW of power.

“After setting up one unit of 270 MW, they claimed the second unit could not take off as they were unable to sign a power-purchase agreement. The company proceeded to declare bankruptcy. The debt it owed five banks rose to ₹3,188 crore and lenders moved the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which invited bids to acquire the company’s assets, in 2022,” she said.

Damania further alleged that Manas Agro, a company promoted by Sarang Gadkari, another son of Gadkari, secured the winning bid, for ₹299 crore. “A company with assets and a net worth of thousands of crores was acquired for peanuts. Moreover, Manas Agro is a subsidiary of Manas Ventures, which in turn was a subsidiary of Cian Agro, a company promoted by Nikhil Gadkari.

Damania said this violated section 29A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy and Code. “The code prohibits the director of a company being part of the company taking over the insolvent firm. The act attracts imprisonment of two years.”

She also claimed that after Ideal Energy was taken over by Manas Agro, the Mhaiskars ceased to own shares in the company. “This means the firm was handed over to the minister’s family,” she added.

Keshav Upadhye, state BJP spokesperson, said Damania’s allegations were baseless. “Similar allegations were levelled against him in 2013, when the then Congress government got central agencies to investigate the charges, but nothing was proved. Allegations like these are levelled against Gadkari time and again to defame him but nothing ever comes of it,” he said.

Jayant Mhaiskar, chairperson of MEP Infrastructure Developers, told HT, “I have not seen Damania’s press conference and cannot respond to her allegations. Ideal Energy Private Limited was dragged to NCLT by lenders, who did not allow a competing company to acquire it. As a result, IEPL was taken over by Manas Agro. Also, MEP has been getting toll and road contracts since 2002-03 when the Congress -NCP government was in power in Maharashtra.”