Birla claims ignorance about alleged payment to Modi

Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, Kumar Mangalam Birla, today expressed ignorance about the charge that his firm had paid bribes to the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, an allegation Rahul Gandhi had made a couple of days ago.
"I don't even know about it and I do not wish to talk on that issue. The matter is sub-judice," he told reporters when asked about the allegations made by Rahul during his rally in Mehsana two days back.
Birla was at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) today for the first time after being appointed as the Chairman of the IIM-A Board of Governors by the Ministry of Human Resource Development two months back.

Reacting to Gandhi's allegations, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said the charges are "baseless, false, shameful and mala fide" and an attempt to divert attention from the AgustaWestland probe as names of Congress leaders and the "family" were coming up.