While the South African government continues to put forth contradictory statements on whether or not Guptas are South African citizens, there’s been a new development in India.
The Indian government has issued a statement to say that the Guptas are not Indian citizens.
A week after Income Tax officials raided the residences of the Guptas in India and spoke of probing the source of the alleged ‘illicit funds’ they may have invested in their hometown of Saharanpur, the question of their citizenship is also gaining attention in India.
SABC reached out to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs for a comment on whether or not the Guptas still hold Indian passports.
Sources in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs have said that the Guptas and their family members are South African citizens. This implies that the Guptas have relinquished their Indian passports.
As per Indian laws, an Indian citizen cannot hold onto the citizenship of another country.
The Indian government has also said that the Guptas’ business is a privately owned South African business.
Sources in the Indian government also claim that the Government of South Africa and its law enforcement agencies are doing their job and that the law must take its course.
The Indian government’s position is that in the case of the Guptas, the law of the land- that is the South African law- should prevail.
When SABC visited the hometown of the Guptas last week, locals in Saharanpur said that while all of the Gupta family members living in South Africa are South African citizens, only Ajay Gupta holds onto an Indian passport.
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