Savings of LIC's 30 crore policyholders 'systematically misused' to benefit Adani: Congress
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Saturday alleged that the savings of Life Insurance Corporation's 30 crore policyholders were “systematically misused” to benefit the Adani Group and demanded that Parliament's Public Accounts Committee investigate how LIC was “forced” to make investments in the conglomerate.
There was no immediate response from the Adani Group or the government on the Congress' allegations.
Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said disturbing revelations have just emerged in the media about how the "Modani joint venture systematically misused the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and the savings of its 30 crore policyholders".
"Internal documents reveal that Indian officials drafted and pushed through a proposal to invest about Rs 33,000 crores of LIC funds in various Adani Group companies in May 2025," he said.
The reported goals were to "signal confidence in the Adani Group" and to "encourage participation from other investors", he said in a statement.
"The question arises: under whose pressure did the officials of the Ministry of Finance and NITI Aayog decide that their job was to bail out a private company facing funding difficulties due to serious allegations of criminality? Is this not a textbook case of 'mobile phone banking'?" Ramesh said.
The Congress leader said the costs of "throwing public money at crony firms" became clear when LIC suffered "a staggering Rs 7,850 crore loss" in just four hours of trading on September 21, 2024, following the indictment of Gautam Adani and seven of his associates in the United States.
"Adani has been accused of orchestrating a Rs 2,000 crore bribery scheme to secure high-priced solar power contracts in India. The Modi government has refused, for nearly a year, to serve a US SEC summons to the prime minister's most favoured business conglomerate," Ramesh said.
The Congress has been persistent in its attack on the government since the Adani Group stocks took a beating on the bourses in the wake of US-based short-selling firm, Hindenburg Research, making a litany of allegations.
The Adani Group has dismissed all charges made by the Congress and others as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.
Ramesh further claimed, "The Modani MegaScam is very wide-ranging. For instance, it encompasses: The misuse of agencies such as the ED, CBI, and Income Tax Department to force other private companies to sell their assets to the Adani Group."
He also alleged that there was "rigged privatisation" of critical infrastructure assets such as airports and ports for the benefit of the Adani Group alone.
Ramesh pointed to alleged misuse of diplomatic resources to funnel contracts to the Adani Group in various countries, especially in India's neighbourhood.
He said the scam also encompasses the import of "over-invoiced coal by close Adani associates Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli and Chang Chung-Ling" using a money-laundering network of shell companies, which contributed to sharp increases in the prices of electricity drawn from Adani power stations in Gujarat.
Ramesh also pointed to pre-election electricity supply agreements at abnormally high prices in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra and the recent alleged allocation of land at Rs 1 per acre for a power plant in poll-bound Bihar.
"The entirety of this Modani MegaScam can only be investigated by a Joint Parliamentary Committee of Parliament that the INC has been demanding for almost three years - ever since we published our 100-question series Hum Adani Ke Hain Kaun (HAHK).
"As a first step, now at least Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should fully investigate how LIC was literally forced to make investments in the Adani Group," Ramesh said.
That will be well within its powers, he added.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
'Someone must be held accountable': HC converts civil suit on Goa nightclub tragedy into PIL
Panaji (PTI): The Bombay High Court on Monday converted a civil suit against Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub into a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) saying "someone has to be held accountable" for the tragedy in which 25 people were killed.In a stern observation, Goa bench of the High Court of Justices Sarang Kotwal and Ashish Chavan said the local panchayat had "failed to take suo motu cognisance" of the club and had taken "no action despite complaints."
The division bench directed the Goa government to file a detailed reply on the permissions granted to the nightclub.
The High Court, while fixing January 8 as the next date of hearing, pointed out that commercial operations were continuing in the structure despite it having been served a demolition order.
The original petition was filed after the December 6 tragedy by Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar and Sunil Divkar, the owners of the land on which the nightclub was operating.
ALSO READ: Veteran Congress leader Shamanuru Shivashankarappa laid to rest with full state honours
Advocate Rohit Bras de Sa, the lawyer representing the petitioner, was made amicus curiae in the matter and has been asked to file a detailed affidavit in the matter.
In their petition, Amonkar and Divkar highlighted "the alarming pattern of statutory violations that have remained inadequately addressed despite multiple complaints, inspections, show-cause notices, and even a demolition order".
They contended that these violations posed "immediate threats to public safety, ecological integrity, and the rule of law in the state of Goa."
Investigations by multiple agencies into the nightclub fire have revealed various irregularities, including lack of permissions to operate the nightclub.
The Goa police arrested five managers and staff members of the club, while co-owners Gaurav Luthra and Saurabh Luthra have been detained in Thailand after they fled the country.
