Yes Bank co-founder Rana Kapoor has told the Enforcement Directorate that he was “forced” to buy an MF Husain painting from Congress’ Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and the sale proceeds were utilised by the Gandhi family for medical treatment of party chief Sonia Gandhi in New York, as per the chargesheet filed by the agency in a special court.

Republic accessed the Enforcement Directorate chargesheet on Sunday. In the chargesheet that runs over 486 pages, one of the ED's questions directs Rana to "furnish the details of the deal pertaining to the sale of the above said MF Hussain painting by Mrs. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra."

Answering the question, Kapoor said, "First of all, I wish to state that it was a forced sale for which I was never ready. As far as I remember somewhere in the year 2010, Mr. Murli Deora made several visits to my residence, my office-Yes Bank to persuade me to purchase of MF Hussain painting from Mrs. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra."

"He even made several calls, and left text messages in this regard, but I was very reluctant to go into this deal. I had tried to avoid this deal by ignoring calls, and, messages and also meetings. Despite my best efforts to avoid this deal, they were exceptionally persistent to finalise this deal rapidly, and in this regard, late Murli Deora forced me to meet him for a Marwadi dinner at his bungalow," the Yes Bank co-founder was quoted as saying.

Kapoor also told the ED that Ahmed Patel, a close confidante of Sonia, had told him that by supporting the Gandhi family at an opportune time for Sonia’s treatment, he had done a good deed for the family and it would be duly considered for the ‘Padma Bhushan’ award.

Rana Kapoor was arrested by the ED on 8 March 2020, after 30 hours of questioning. The ED has alleged that Kapoor misused his position as the Chief Executive Officer of Yes Bank to benefit his daughters' companies. According to the agency, loans worth Rs.30,000 crore were given by Yes Bank when he was at the helm of affairs. Out of these, advances of Rs. 20,000 crores became NPAs (non-performing assets).

Image courtesy: Times of India