Tushar Mehta | Suvendu Adhikari
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta denies meeting BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari
New Delhi/IBNS: Solicitor General Tushar Mehta has strongly denied meeting with BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari, saying he "dropped in unannounced" on Thursday.
Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of opposition in West Bengal assembly, is being investigated in corruption cases by the CBI which is represented by Mehta in courts.
"Suvendu Adhikari did come to my residence-cum-office yesterday at around 3 pm, unannounced. Since I was already in a pre-scheduled meeting in my chamber, my staff requested him to sit in the waiting room of my office building and offered him a cup of tea," Mehta said, according to NDTV.
"When my meeting was over and thereafter my (personal secretary) informed me about his arrival, I requested him to convey to Mr Adhikari my inability to meet him and apologise as he had to wait. Mr Adhikari thanked my PPS and left without insisting to meet me. The question of my meeting with Mr Adhikari therefore did not arise."
Adhikari is an accused in the Narada sting operation involving bribes taken on camera by Trinamool leaders. He is also facing allegations in the Saradha Chit fund scam in which lakhs of rupess invested by common people were swindled. CBI is probing both the cases.
TMC Rajya Sabha MPs Derek O'Brien, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy and Lok Sabha member Mahua Moitra wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, seeking the removal of Tushar Mehta as the Solicitor General after he reportedly met Suvendu Adhikari.
The TMC MPs sought the removal on the ground of "conflict of interest" as Mehta is advising the investigating agencies in two scams where Adhikari is an accused.
The letter reads, "The Solicitor General of India is the second-highest law officer of the country after the Attorney General of India and advises the Government of India and its various organs in crucial legal matters such as Narada and Sarada cases.
"Such meeting between an accused in grave offences, with the Learned Solicitor General who is advising such investigating agencies by whom the said accused is being investigated, is in direct conflict of interest with the statutory duties of the Learned Solicitor General of India."
However, Adhikari stated he held no meeting with Mehta.
The BJP leader said Mehta had refused to meet him.
According to NDTV, Trinammol has released a video showing Adhikari at Tushar Mehta's home.
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