Did arms dealers Abhishek & Anca Verma meet Rahul to lobby for Sig Sauer Pistols on Dec 6, 2011 at 3PM?

[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]O[/dropcap]n July 22, NDTV conducted a human rights related interview with Anca Neacșu Verma, Romanian National and wife of controversial arms dealer Abhishek Verma. Both were in jail from 2012 in connection with a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe on Naval War Room leak and other deals. The NDTV interview portrayed Anca now on bail as a human rights activist for jailed women.  She said there were beatings in jail, and gave a detailed account of the plight of other women prisoners. What was the case Anca was referring to in the interview?

The husband and wife pair of Abhishek and Anca Verma were arrested after Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal released a 118 page- document on Commissions in Defence deals connected with Verma, around April, 2012. In those days the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was not yet formed and the country was witnessing an anti-corruption wave. A copy of the full document containing various arms deals and commission sharing details is shown at the end of this article.

In the document released to media, neither Bhushan, nor Kejriwal spoke about the last four pages which details the VVIPs, Ministers, top bureaucrats, top brass of army and police contacted by Abhishek – Anca Verma team. Their meetings from December 5 – 7, 2011 were to lobby for the purchase of Sig Sauer Pistols for Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Defence.

[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]P[/dropcap]age 116 of the document details the meeting plans of Sig Sauer on December 6, 2011, detailing a meeting with Rahul Gandhi at 3PM at his residence.

[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]hese documents were supplied to Prashant Bhushan by Verma’s estranged business partner Edmonds Allen. The US based Allen came on the media on several occasions, no media spoke about this Rahul Gandhi meeting, while speaking on other matters.

According to this document, after meeting Rahul Gandhi, there was a big party thrown to top army, police and bureaucrats at Abhishek Verma’s farm house Verma Estate.  The next day, December 7, 2011, the Pistol company owners were taken to offices of top officers in Home – Defence Ministries. As expected in the evening another party was organised  for the benefit of the top journalists in Delhi at The Grand Hotel.

Within weeks of this document release, the CBI put Abhishek and Anca in jail for Naval War Room Leak.

Abhishek Verma and Rahul Gandhi were childhood friends. His father Shrikant Verma was the Hindi tutor of Sonia Gandhi. He was a permanent fixture at Indira Gandhi’s home and a close associate of Rajiv Gandhi also. He and his wife were Congress MPs in Rajya Sabha for a long time.

In summary this NDTV program raised expectations of some questions being asked of Anca Verma about arms deals but it fell short.

Commission in Defence Deals