Union minister Smriti Irani Saturday rejected as malicious the Congress' allegation that her daughter ran an illegal bar in Goa, and said the college student was targeted because of her mother's vocal stand on the Sonia and Rahul Gandhi's "Rs 5,000-crore loot" in the National Herald case.

The Congress "assassinated" and "publicly mutilated" her daughter's character, Irani said in a hard-hitting press conference, and dared the Opposition party to show the proof of any wrongdoing.