Mallya row: Cong targets govt, calls CBI stand that it erred a 'cover-up'

Firing yet another salvo at the government on the Vijay Mallya issue, Congress on Saturday dubbed as "cover-up excuse" CBI's "very strange explanation" that the Lookout notice for the controversial businessman was erroroneously issued.

"We have a very strange explanation coming from the Government authorities at the highest level of the CBI purportedly stating that they issued a Lookout Notice by an error. It's not a child's play and they are not casually issued or revoked," party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters in New Delhi.

Noting that such notices are not limited to national boundaries, he said it goes beyond and has connectivity with Interpol rules and are circulated across the world.

"How is it possible that the CBI is issuing such notices erroneously? Has any disciplinary action been initiated against anyone? The supposedly wrong notice was revoked at the level and instance of the CBI director or at the level of Minister in Charge of the department namely the PM of India?", he asked.

Insisting that such explanations raise many questions than answers, he said, "it would be comic, if not tragic that such mysterious, strange explanations are trotted out."

"The bottom line is, under the cynosure of press, court proceedings, notices and orders, a person is allowed to depart. A cover-up excuse is trotted out that there was a defective Lookout Notice", he said.

Targeting the BJP, he said that the Lookout notice must be seen in continuity. "Yet another part of the same chain is to be noted that Mr. Mallya entered the Rajya Sabha in 2003-2004, it was only with the support of BJP and this is widely known."

Besides, he said it's also equally very well known that when banks attached Mallya's valuable properties in Goa, then the CM of Goa and the Government of Goa intervened and stopped the process.

"In that comes the very strange pretext of a cover-up about departure on the basis of incorrect or illegal lookout notice and the totality of such circumstances raise serious question marks", he said.

On the question of a farmer in Tamil Nadu, who took loan of Rs 3 Lakh for tractor, being attacked by cops and bank employees, he condemned the "highhandeness".

"We do believe that highhandedness, throwing the rulebook and all kinds of procedures for a miniscule amount for a common man and allowing elephants to be swallowed as far as big people are concerned is a systemic problem", he added.