BJP leader Mohit Kamboj declared 'wilful defaulter' by state run Bank of Baroda

BJP leader Mohit Kamboj has been declared a "wilful defaulter" by the state-run Bank of Baroda.

Mohit Kamboj, chief of the Mumbai unit of Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha who was in news earlier this year when he replaced his last name with "Bhartiya", disputed the bank's action, saying he had paid his dues as a personal guarantor for a loan.

In an advertisement Wednesday, the bank published Mr Kamboj's photograph, using his new name, Mohit Bharatiya, and said it has declared him a wilful defaulter with regard to borrowings by a firm called Avyan Ornaments.

It had initiated proceedings to declare Kamboj and one Jitendra Kapoor as wilful defaulters as per the RBI's norms, the bank said.

As per the RBI's instructions, it was now informing the wider public about Mohit Kamboj and Jitendra Kapoor being wilful defaulters, it added.

The account in question is managed by the bank's zonal stressed-assets recovery branch in South Mumbai.

In a letter circulating widely, the 35-year-old Kamboj claimed he was not a promoter or director of the company, but a personal guarantor.

As a guarantor, Mr Kamboj said, he had paid Rs. 76 crore as his part of the liability over the last two years.

The matter reached the court in 2014 and the verdict went in the borrower's favour, he said.

However, he paid up so as to ensure that there were no dues against him, the letter said.

Mohit Kamboj has been serving as president of the Mumbai unit of the BJP's youth wing since November 2016.

-PTI