Excuse me, Mr Sinha, who lives in your bungalow?

‘‘The fact that I purchased some election publicity material from a supplier can, by no stretch of imagination, be construed to me...

‘‘The fact that I purchased some election publicity material from a supplier can, by no stretch of imagination, be construed to mean that I have a relationship with him (Ashok Chaturvedi, chairman of Flex Industries).’’ — Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha replying in Parliament this week on a report in The Sunday Express which revealed that Flex, now facing a CBI inquiry for its chairman’s involvement in a bribery case, gave him poll material in 1999.

It needs ‘‘no stretch of imagination,’’ just a 30-minute drive from Sinha’s North Block office to Noida to find out that the Minister skipped mentioning a little detail when asked to come clean by the Opposition on his ‘‘links’’ with Flex.

Sinha owns a bungalow (228, Sector 15 A) in Noida that he has rented to Amitav Ray, President at Flex Industries. Denying that this raised any question of conflict of interest, Sinha told The Sunday Express that Ray, in fact, was paying a rent of Rs 50,000, which was Rs 400 less than that paid by his previous tenant. ‘‘This cannot be construed to be a favour by any stretch of imagination.’’

Nothing to declare?

• In his declaration of assets filed to the PM for the financial year 1997-1998, a copy of which is with The Sunday Express, Sinha mentions his annual income as Rs 3,90,760 and his taxes as Rs 92,228.
• In his response to The Sunday Express, he says that from Sept ‘97 to April 15, 2001, his tenant, before Flex’s Ray, paid Rs 50,400 per month. So his rental income alone was over Rs 3.5 lakh.
• But under the heading Other Income, Sinha mentions Nil. Read More

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Surprisingly, when asked about Ray, Dinesh Jain, Vice President, Human Resource Development, at Flex, says he has ‘‘no idea of any such individual residing in Sector 15 A.’’

This despite the following facts:

• Ray’s family and his assistant in his Flex office confirmed his designation and his residence address.

• There are two cars parked in his driveway: a silver Opel Astra (WB 02H 9635) and a black Mitsubushi Lancer (DL 3CS 5792). The Lancer, according to Delhi Traffic Police records, is registered in the name of Flex Industries, Pamposh Enclave.

• And the Astra, as per records at the Motor Vehicles Department in Kolkata, is registered in the name of Amitav Ray.

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The manner in which the house has been rented also raises questions:

• According to the official Noida directory, the house has two phones, both in the name of Royal Garden Hotels and Resorts Private Ltd. But the latest bill shows the subscriber as Royal Gandhi Hotel.

• When contacted, Rajendra Singh, an executive in Flex’s Human Resource Department, said: ‘‘Royal Garden was an affiliate company of Flex Industries but it closed down three to four years ago.’’