Allegations baseless, Amit Shah's son to sue website for Rs 100 cr: Goyal

New Delhi: Jay Shah, son of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Amit Shah, will file a criminal defamation suit against news website 'The Wire' for alleging that Jay's company posted a turnover of Rs. 80.5 crore in 2015-16, informed BJP leader and Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday.

The report alleged that his company's turnover increased 16,000 times over in the year following the election of Narendra Modi as prime minister and the elevation of his father to the post of party president.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Goyal said, "Mr. Jay Shah will file criminal defamation suit of Rs. 100 crore against author (of article), editor and owner of news website The Wire."

"We reject any allegation sought to be made against Mr. Jay Shah or any of our leaders. Mr. Jay Shah will file civil and criminal prosecution for defamation in Ahmedabad Court," he added.

The BJP leader further said that the article with the title carrying the name of Jay Shah, was written to damage the reputation of party president Amit Shah.

"Using the figure '16,000' (Jay Shah's business growth figure by The Wire) is just an attempt to sensationalize the matter," Goyal said.

A report, written by Rohini Singh in 'The Wire', details the growth of Jay Shah's company, Temple Enterprise Private Ltd, from revenues of Rs. 50,000 in 2014-'15 to Rs. 80.5 crore in 2015-'16.

The report also reveals a number of loans received by companies connected to Jay Shah, based on documents filed with the Registrar of Companies.

"All loans taken (by Jay Shah) were in accordance with the law and were paid back with full interest, well within the time limit," said Goyal.

Refuting the allegations as an old Congress style, Goyal said, "Even at the time of VP Singh,false charges were leveled against him and that has been Congress style always".

Following the report, the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sought answers from Prime Minister and the BJP president, and demanded a probe by the ED and the CBI.

Meanwhile, Congress Vice President tweeted:  “We finally found the only beneficiary of Demonetisation. It’s not the RBI, the poor or the farmers. It’s the Shah-in-Shah of Demo. Jai Amit.”

(With agency inputs)