Varun Gandhi met Abhishek Verma after becoming MP, alleges Whistleblower

NEW DELHI: Ever since the reports of Varun Gandhi being honey trapped by arms dealers first came in, ABP News has been trying to get to the bottom of it by reaching out to all the characters involved. In a nutshell, there are mainly three characters involved in this entire episode: a) C Edmonds Allen: A US based attorney who worked with the controversial arms dealer Abhishek Verma and now a whistleblower who sends documents and evidences suggesting that sensitive details about India’s national security was leaked by the arms dealer who got help from officials, bureaucrats and politicians. b) Abhishek Verma: The controversial arms dealer who has been in jail since last few years, facing several charges and is currently out on bail. c) Varun Gandhi: BJP Member of parliament from Uttar Pradesh Allen, who claims to be a former partner of Abhishek Verma, has been writing to Indian authorities regarding the suspected roles played by officials, bureaucrats since a long time. He has also been in touch with CBI and ED. But it is for the first time during the NDA government that he has claimed to provide documentary evidence against a BJP leader who was allegedly trapped by the Arms dealers. The pictures and documents sent by Edmonds Allen to ABP News suggest that BJP MP Varun Gandhi was in contact with arms dealer Abhishek Verma. Varun Gandhi while talking to ABP News did not deny knowing Verma but maintained that last time he met Abhishek Verma was before he became a Member of Parliament. He also called the charges made by the Allen “false and frivolous in nature” in a public statement. Varun told ABP News that there is no evidence to suggest that he passed any information to anyone. Varun also clarified that he never attended any meeting of Defense Consultative Committee and attended very few meetings of standing committee. Abhishek Verma on the other hand, called Allen a forger and said that he is suing Allen in an Indian court. The Twist: Every allegation that Allen has made has been rebutted strongly by Varun Gandhi and Abhishek Verma. However, Allen has produced a copy of an email allegedly sent by Abhishek Verma to Allen claiming that Varun Gandhi was paying a visit to the Verma’s home. According to Allen, Varun was visiting Verma’s place and attending his parties even in September 2010 while he was a Member of Parliament. The email from Verma to Allen also shows a picture of Varun Gandhi. The background of the picture is common to the one seen in many pictures of Abhishek’s parties. Apart from these Allen has also produced an itinerary of two executives of a Swiss gun making firm ‘Sig Sauer’ who were being hosted by the Verma family and where scheduled to meet “Mr Gandhi” on December 6, 2011 in New Delhi. Varun Gandhi while talking to ABP News has denied meeting these officials and said that anyone can make an itinerary about anyone but it proves nothing. About the picture Varun said “I don’t want to give them the dignity by making a comment about them, people who have seen those pictures have themselves told me that they look forged”. Abhishek Verma while talking to ABP News has also rejected Allen’s claims saying these are forged emails and forged pictures. ­­Allen to his defense has maintained the authenticity of the documents challenging other parties to sue him in a New York court. What's Next? Abhishek Verma says that he will sue Allen in an Indian court very soon while claiming that a court has already dismissed a PIL involving one of the cases mentioned in the letter sent by Allen to the Prime Minister’s office. Allen who calls CBI and ED a ‘competent’ group of officers blames the political pressure for the inaction. Varun Gandhi while talking to ABP News maintains that the matter is dead and there is nothing to comment saying that all these evidences have been with the CBI for long and they have found nothing against him. The real question is silence of the government and the party. Neither the government nor the party has made any comments on Varun Gandhi. While some people are questioning the timing of the leaks seeing them in context with UP elections and growing clamor for a CM face for the BJP. Posters seeking Varun Gandhi to be declared the face of BJP in UP was one of the talking points recently. Varun's initiative of providing homes to the homeless people had gained appreciation from all quarters. At the same time, there has been no indication from the government or the agencies of an official investigation being carried out in this case, so that the matter could be put to rest for once and all.