In his previous stint as the Khadi and Village Industries Commission chairman, Delhi lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena was hailed in the media for having played a starring role in making khadi a global Indian brand. Now, his time as the KVIC chief between 2015 and 2022 has come under the scanner.

In January 2017, Saxena launched the country’s first exclusive Khadi India Lounge in Mumbai, paid for by a Rs 80 crore grant by the small and medium enterprises ministry to modernise khadi outlets in India. The premium facility, it has now emerged, was apparently designed by Saxena’s daughter Shivangi Saxena, an interior designer then working for design firm Haresh Shah and Associates.

A plaque at the facility announces that it was conceptualised by Shivangi, but she told Newslaundry, “As a budding designer, I suggested the design of the outlet in a brainstorming exercise. My contribution was limited to conceptual design only. I was not part of any execution or construction work. It was done purely on a pro bono basis. The same can be verified from the KVIC office.”