Amid a massive fire broke out at the office of the Income Tax Department in Mumbai on June 1. The Scindia House building at the Bellard Estate area of South Mumbai, caused the destruction of property, although no casualties were reported.
Soon after the fire-workers controlled the blaze, reports began to come-in that crucial files related to Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, accused in the Rs 11,000 crore PNB scam, have been gutted in the fire.
Well known mainstream news outlets carried the news.
One of the article tweeted by the Congress party’s official twitter handle.
In a rather convenient turn of events, a fire burned papers that the Income Tax Department had on Nirav Modi , the man who was photographed with PM Modi before he went on the run after pulling off the largest banking fraud in India. https://t.co/ps72fm9AFt
— Congress (@INCIndia) June 3, 2018
Reality Check
The Income Tax Department has rubbished the news reports published and broadcast by media organisations.
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In a tweet on June 3, the IT department clarified that “News reports appearing in some sections of media alleging that records/documents relating to investigation of Nirav Modi/Mehul Choksi have been destroyed in the Scindia House fire in ITOffice,Mumbai are completely false and misdirected.”
News reports appearing in some sections of media alleging that records/documents relating to investigation of Nirav Modi/Mehul Choksi have been destroyed in the Scindia House fire in ITOffice,Mumbai are completely false & misdirected @PMOIndia @FinMinIndia @arunjaitley @adhia03
— Income Tax India (@IncomeTaxIndia) June 3, 2018
This clarification by the Income Tax Department was subsequently reported by multiple news organisations.