Income Tax department seizes properties reportedly linked to Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar

The Income Tax department has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 1,000 crore reportedly linked to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, according to The Hindu.

The assets include a sugar factory, a house in Delhi, an office in Mumbai, a resort in Goa and land in different parts of Maharashtra, unidentified officials told the newspaper.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kirit Somaiya, who has been accusing Pawar and other leaders of the Maharashtra government of financial irregularities, also tweeted details of the properties that have been seized.

The Income Tax department has not yet issued a statement on attachment of the properties. However, unidentified officials of the department told reporters that the action was taken under the Prohibition of the Benami Property Transactions Act.

The seizure took place almost a month after tax officials raided homes and offices of Pawar’s relatives, including his son Parth Pawar. During last month’s raids, officials had said that the search was related to allegations of tax evasion.

Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party leaders have alleged that the Income Tax department’s actions were politically motivated.

The party’s chief Sharad Pawar said that the seizure was the Bharatiya Janata Party’s reaction to the his stand on the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, the Hindustan Times reported.

Eight people, including four farmers, were killed in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district on October 3 during a protest against the Centre’s three new farm laws. Farmer bodies have alleged that a vehicle belonging to Ashish Mishra, the son of BJP leader and Union minister Ajay Mishra, had run over the protestors.

Nationalist Congress Party leader Nawab Malik said that the BJP was abusing powers of the central agencies and the seizure was an attempt to defame Ajit Pawar, PTI reported.