Ratul’s arrest instigated by malicious intentions: CM Kamal Nath

BHOPAL: Hours after his nephew and businessman Ratul Puri’s arrest by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a Rs 354 crore bank fraud case,

Madhya Pradesh

chief minister Kamal Nath told reporters on Tuesday that he has no business connection with

Puri

, the former executive director of digital data storage devices company Moser Baer.

“I have no connection with Ratul Puri’s business activities,” chief minister Kamal Nath said. “I have never had any such connection. But I believe that this arrest has been instigated by malicious intentions,” he said.

Ratul Puri resigned from the post of executive director Moser Baer in 2012.

ED on Monday night said Ratul Puri was being arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Puri is also being probed in the Agusta Westland chopper case. He is being investigated by three agencies including the CBI, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax department.

On Tuesday evening, the Delhi High Court dismissed his anticipatory bail plea.

Attacking the Centre, chief minister Kamal Nath said, “Every institution is being politically misused, this is what is sad. I have full faith that the court will give the right verdict. And everything else is before the public domain. Sometimes it is Chidambaram, sometimes Ahmad Patel, sometimes it is the Shiv Sena’s leaders and at other times they are after industrialists. To which level is this country getting dragged? But I don’t get disturbed by such developments.”

Though Puri resigned from Moser Baer, his parents continued to be in the Board of Directors. ED has also booked Ratul Puri’s father and company’s managing director Deepak Puri (the chief minister’s brother-in-law), mother Nita Puri (the chief minister’s sister) and two other directors Vineet Sharma and Sanjay Jain for cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and other charges.
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