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PM attacks Cong over ED charge sheet in Agusta scam, Congress says cheap poll stunt, Michel claims no name mentioned

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Press Trust of India Dehradun/New Delhi
Last Updated : Apr 05 2019 | 8:00 PM IST

The ED's supplementary charge sheet in the AgustaWestland chopper scam case raised the political temperature ahead of the Lok Sabha polls with Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday bringing it up to attack the Congress even as the alleged middleman Christian Michel claimed before a court he has not named anyone during investigation.

The Congress said the charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate(ED) before a Delhi court on Thursday was a 'cheap election stunt' to divert people's attention from the 'imminent defeat' of the Modi government in the polls while senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley insisted that the opposition party answer as to who were RG', AP' and FAM' in the documents cited by the probe agency.

Michel, who alleged that the central government was using agencies for political agenda, filed an application before the court after reports appeared that the ED in its charge sheet named politicians of the previous UPA dispensation, defence personnel, bureaucrats and journalists as beneficiaries of kickbacks in the controversial defence deal.

Alleging that Congress and corruption were inseparable partners, Modi told a rally in Uttarakhand that Michel has hinted at the Congress' first family's involvement in the chopper deal.

Modi claimed that Michel whom his government had brought from Dubai had disclosed two names to his interrogators.

"One was 'AP' and the other was 'FAM'. 'AP' stands for Ahmed Patel and 'FAM' stands for family. Have you heard of Ahmed Patel? Which family is he close to? " he asked the audience at the rally at the parade ground in Dehradun.

Hearing the crowd's response, Modi said,"You understood automatically. The family cannot tolerate the stern attitude of the chowkidar,"

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First Published: Apr 05 2019 | 8:00 PM IST

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