Congress President Rahul Gandhi has accused former CBI joint director AK Sharma of helping fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya to escape from the country. He said Sharma, who was in the CBI in 2015, was also "in charge of Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi's escape plans".

The Congress President has alleged that Sharma is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "blue-eyed-boy" in the CBI. However, the CBI said its officers had no hand in the escape of diamond traders Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi in connection with the over Rs 12,000 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam.