Firm linked to Smriti Irani’s family paid rent for cafe ‘run by her daughter’

BJP minister Smriti Irani has repeatedly denied any association with the Silly Souls café and bar in Goa, alleged to have been run by her daughter Zoish Irani. But government records obtained under the RTI Act indicate a company linked to Irani’s family took the plot on a 10-year lease to carry out a food and beverage business.

Eightall Food and Beverages, which shares its address with the restaurant and has 75 percent capital investment from firms linked to the Iranis, also paid a monthly rent of Rs 50,000 when the lease agreement was inked on January 7 this year, according to the reply from the state’s information officer of the directorate of food and drugs to an RTI application filed by activist Aires Rodrigues on August 3.

Moreover, records from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India show that it granted a permit to Eightall in July last year to run a food business at the same address – 452, Bouta Waddo, Assagao. The signatory on behalf of Eightall is Harsh Khaneja, one of the company’s five directors, along with Rahul Vohra, Mangesh Joshi, Gita Vajani, and Kanika Seth. Khaneja was authorised through an Eightall resolution in May to be the signatory for the FSSAI licence the same month.

Vohra, who is also a director in Ugraya Mercantile with Smriti Irani’s husband Zubin and son Zohr, was authorised to act as a partner in Eightall by none other than Zubin Irani – through a resolution passed at an Ugraya meeting in November 2020. The meeting also resolved that 50 percent of the capital of Eightall will be invested by Ugraya Mercantile.

Joshi was similarly appointed a director in Eightall through a resolution passed by a firm in which Zubin is a director. Ugraya Agro Farms Pvt Ltd, in which Zubin, Zohr and Zubin’s sister-in-law Mehernaz Kaizad Irani are directors, also passed a resolution to invest 25 percent of Eightall’s capital. Joshi happens to be director of two other firms linked to Zubin and Zohr – Shree Bawaji Foods and Heramba Life Sciences.

The lease agreement was executed between Eightall and Anthony D’Gama, who land records show is the owner of a major portion of the plot at 452, Bhouta Vaddo.

“The lessee is also desirous of conducting business of bar and restaurant and being desirous of setting up its business have approached the lessor and have offered to take the said premises mentioned above, on lease for a period of 10 years w.e.f 1/1/2021 upon payment of rent of Rs 50,000 per month,” the lease agreement states. “The lessor has accepted the proposal of the lessee and both the parties have accordingly entered into this agreement.”

In an interview with food vlogger Kunal Vijayakar in April, Zoish Irani had detailed the motive behind opening what she described as an international restaurant in Goa. Smriti Irani shared the interview on Instagram, tagging her daughter and the restaurant bar’s social media account and saying she was “proud”.

However, allegations that the minister’s daughter was illegally operating the Silly Souls Cafe and Bar stirred up a political slugfest – with the BJP and the Congress trading potshots.

Notably, it was on the basis of another RTI reply obtained by Rodrigues that the restaurant’s proprietor was accused of fraudulently renewing its liquor licence, which is in the name of a dead man. Goa’s excise department has since issued a showcause notice over the renewal of licence “despite the licence holder having passed away on May 17, 2021”.

Irani has denied that her daughter ran the restaurant and pointed out that neither the RTI reply nor the excise notice mentions her family. She has trashed the allegations as a “conspiracy” and sent a legal notice to three Congress leaders for allegedly maligning her family.

In July, Justice Mini Pushkarna of the Delhi High Court directed Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera and Netta D’Souza to delete their social media posts against Irani.

The high court last month sought the union minister’s reply to an application moved by Google stating that it could not remove alleged defamatory content against her in connection with the restaurant on YouTube without being provided the links of such videos.