The Income Tax department on Wednesday summoned RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s daughter Misa Bharti and her husband in a benami assets probe and tax evasion case, reported PTI. Bharti, a Rajya Sabha MP, and her husband, Shailesh Kumar, have been asked to appear before the department in the first week of June.
The I-T department is investigating Misa Bharti and her husband’s alleged investment in shell companies and benami land deals worth over Rs 1,000 crore. This development follows the arrest of chartered accountant Rajesh Agarwal, who allegedly helped Lalu’s family in illegal transactions, by the Enforcement Directorate on May 22. Agarwal is allegedly associated with a company linked to Bharti in connection with a money laundering racket worth Rs 8,000 crore. He allegedly also provided illegal funds to launder money to businessman brothers Virendra Jain and Surendra Jain.
On May 16, the Income Tax department had raided 22 places in and around Delhi in connection with alleged benami property deals involving Yadav and his family – Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, Health Minister Tej Pratap Yadav and Bharti, who is also a Rajya Sabha MP.
“People and businessmen connected to the land deal involving Lalu Prasad and his family are being searched. There are allegations of benami deals worth about Rs 1,000 crore and subsequent tax evasion,” a senior official had said.
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