Probe BJP leader, arms dealer ties, says Congress

In a related fall-out of the Robert Vadra benami property controversy, the Congress on Tuesday wrote to the CBI and the ED demanding a probe into the alleged links between BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh and arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

Reacting to Congress leader Shehzad Poonawalla’s charges that call data records of Mr Bhandari showed that Mr Singh had made 450 calls to Mr Bhandari “within a short span of time”, the BJP leader said he had no financial dealings with Mr Bhandari “except knowing him socially”. He also said that he was ready to face any probe in the matter.

Mr Singh said, “My children and his children went to the same school. Till the raids (at Bhandari’s place) I did not know about him (as an arms dealer). I came to know about it from the media and since then there have been no calls. Neither he called nor did I call him up.” He dismissed reports that he had made 450 calls. “Not even 100 or 50 calls. Much less than that,” he said, adding that the last call was made two or three months ago.