Nitin Gadkari's wife, sons hold shares in 3 Purti 'shell' companies: Report

New Delhi: BJP president Nitin Gadkari finds himself in more trouble after a Times of India report on Sunday carried details mentioning that his wife and two sons held shares in three Purti Group's shareholding companies. The report added that there were at least six instances which directly linked the BJP chief to the holding companies through his wife Kanchan, sons Nikhil and Sarang, nephew Sandip Bhurchandi, Vice-Chairman of Purti Power and Sugar Limited (PPSL) Jaykumar Varma and driver Manohar Panse.

The report, the newspaper said, was based on annual documents submitted by PPSL and its 18 shareholding companies to the Registrar of Companies. It thus counters RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy's clean chit to the BJP president. Gurumurthy had found that it was Nagpur-based businessman Manish Mehta who had made investments in Purti through 18 shell companies.

The report comes at a time when the anti-Gadkari chorus is growing stronger and louder within the BJP. Party leader Shatrughan Sinha on Saturday came out in open support of colleagues Ram Jethmalani and Yashwant Sinha who have been demanding the resignation of Gadkari over corruption charges.

The Times of India in its report mentioned that there were at least 6 instances which directly linked Gadkari to the companies through his family.

"I believe that Yashwant Sinha's statement is being heard by many. There is an environment of differences not only in the BJP but in other parties. Yashwant Sinha, Jaswant Singh, Ram Jethmalani are strong and rare leaders. Their words should be reflected upon and not fought over," Shatrughan Sinha said.

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