‘Cancel Chatwal’s award’

Gopinath Munde, Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, has written to PM Manmohan Singh saying hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal ‘s Padma Bhushan be cancelled.

Gopinath Munde, Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, has written to PM Manmohan Singh saying hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal ‘s Padma Bhushan be cancelled.

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Munde’s letter, written on Monday, states that Chatwal was charged by Indian authorities with bank fraud in the past. “The CBI has filed four chargesheets against Chatwal for alleged a nine-million-dollar fraud connected with the State Bank of India for which he was arrested,” the letter says.

It adds that Chatwal has also been associated with frauds committed in other foreign and Indian banks. “This [awarding Chatwal] degrades the award and casts a wrong impression on people all over the world, and brings bad name to our nation,” Munde’s letter says. Munde has requested an investigation into the matter and asked for the award to be cancelled. HTC