On June 22 at the White House, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted First Lady Jill Biden a 7.5-carat lab-grown green diamond with earth-mined diamonds’ chemical and optical attributes. Reacting to this, Congress leader Renuka Chowdhury said, “Modi gifted Green Diamond to Biden’s wife. What gift did he give to his wife?”
Modi gifted Green Diamond to Biden's wife.. What gift did he give to his wife? pic.twitter.com/jNPGFeBaIi
— Renuka Chowdhury (@RenukaCCongress) June 22, 2023
As the Congress leader made these remarks mocking PM Modi over the diamond he gifted to Jill Biden, it becomes necessary to recall how Renuka Chowdhury allegedly received a diamond worth Rs 1.2 crore from a tax evader in the year 2000.
A Pune-based stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan is an infamous tax evader who was implicated in a multi-crore rupees money laundering case in 2011. He allegedly stashed away billions into Swiss bank accounts with the help of Kolkata-based businessman Kashinath Tapuriah and Delhi-based Pravin Kumar using hawala.
Khan’s one-time business partner Kashinath Tapuriah, a Kolkata-based industrialist had said during the interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate in 2011 that Hasan Ali Khan gifted a diamond worth Rs 1.2 crores to Congress leader Renuka Chowdhury. According to a report by India Today, Kashinath Tapuriah said, “I had taken a diamond from Soir Jewellers in Mumbai, owned by building contractor Abbas Naqvi, to keep with me. It cost around Rs 1.2 crore. Khan took it saying he would give me the money or the diamond within three months. He told me that he wanted to give the diamond to an important person and referred to Renuka Chowdhury. She is a politician. Khan had told me that she was a very close friend. I was never paid for the diamond.”
When these allegations surfaced, Renuka Chowdhury denied these claims and said, “I am upset and I will definitely take legal recourse. He (Tapuriah) needs to prove he knows me or has met me. He is dropping names to wriggle out of the situation and we politicians are left defenseless. We are bashed and left to prove ourselves”
It is notable that the trial in this multi-crore rupees money laundering case has not yet started. Hasan Ali Khan died in Hyderabad on 23 February 2023, at the age of 71. Besides, Renuka Chowdhury, Khan also allegedly had close ties with actress Jaya Prada and other Andhra Pradesh politicians such as former chief minister Vijay Bhaskar Reddy.
While Renuka Chowdhury took a jibe at PM Modi over the green diamond he gifted to Jill Biden, she forgot the allegations against her of receiving a diamond from a tax evader in 2000.
