Purti Group to get notice soon for 8216;violating8217; Act

Former BJP president Nitin Gadkari is in for more trouble over his association with the Purti Group

Former BJP president Nitin Gadkari is in for more trouble over his association with the Purti Group of Companies with the Registrar of Companies RoC,Mumbai,learnt to be preparing to serve it a show-cause notice asking why action should not be initiated against it for violations of several sections of the Companies Act. The notice could be delivered as early as this week and it could lead to initiation of prosecution against Gadkari-promoted company.

Official sources told The Indian Express that the RoC had been examining the books of accounts and balance sheets of the Purti Group for the last over eight months and came to conclude 15-20 violations of the Companies Act involving over a dozen associated companies. The then corporate affairs minister Veerappa Moily had ordered a discreet inquiry into the affairs of the Purti Group after its transactions and Gadkaris alleged role in them had created a political furore last year. RoC sources asserted that there had been no political interference whatsoever in the inquiry process and the show-cause notice,to be delivered to the company any time after Tuesday,was a routine,normal corollary of any investigation.

Our inquiry has clearly established violations of the Companies Act on several counts. We have,therefore,decided to issue the show-cause notice, said an official source who refused to elaborate the specific nature of violations.

Coupled with the fact that Income-Tax sleuths are already looking into alleged tax evasions by companies concerned,the RoCs findings and subsequent actions could further queer the pitch for Gadkari who had to resign as BJP president last year following a big uproar within and outside his party over the alleged irregularities involving the company and his role in them.

Ram Jethmalani,who was subsequently expelled from the BJP,and senior party leader Yashwant Sinha had led the attack on Gadkari within the party fora,which ultimately led to his unceremonious exit from the coveted office.

Last January,Gadkari had issued a threat to I-T officials holding field inquiries into deals involving Purti Group. When we come to power,who will be there to save them I-T officials? he had reportedly told a gathering at Nagpur last January. Since then,however,the former BJP president has been more focused on positioning himself in his party riven between L K Advani and Narendra Modi camps.

He refused to be a part of Advanis grand design to neutralise Modis ascension as campaign committee chief through the former BJP presidents appointment as head of a parallel committee. As Gadkari now braces up to contest the next Lok Sabha election from Nagpur,RoCs missive could turn out to be a spoilsport.