The Income Tax department on Monday claimed that the raids conducted in Madhya Pradesh over the past two days exposed a “well-organised” racket involving unaccounted cash of Rs 281 crore, NDTV reported.
The Income Tax department, in a statement, said a part of the cash had been transferred to the headquarters of a “major political party in Delhi”, which included Rs 20 crore moved through “hawala” or illegal transaction channels from the residence of a “senior functionary at Tughlak Road, Delhi”.
The Income Tax department on Sunday searched the Indore home of Praveen Kakkad, an officer on special duty to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, and other properties related to Kakkad. Premises connected with Kamal Nath’s nephew and businessman Ratul Puri, Nath’s brother-in-law Deepak Puri’s firm Moser Baer, and the home Nath’s former advisor Rajendra Kumar Miglani in Delhi were also searched.
Income Tax officials conducted searches at 50 locations, including Bhopal, Goa and Delhi.
Other seized items include tiger skins, unaccounted cash amounting to Rs. 14.6 crore, 252 bottles of liquor and a few firearms. “Meticulous records of collection and disbursement of cash in the form of handwritten diaries, computer files and excel sheets corroborate found and seized corroborate the above findings,” the statement said, according to ANI.
Searches were also conducted in Delhi against those linked to a “close relative of the senior functionary” during which officials seized a cash book recording unaccounted transactions of Rs 230 crore, siphoning off money through bogus billing of more than Rs 242 crore and evidence of more than 80 companies in tax havens, the Income Tax department said.
Bharatiya Janata Party’s National General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya tweeted on Monday morning at 10.53 am: “The Transfer Express in Madhya Pradesh has derailed. No loss of life, but loss of 281 crore estimated.”
Narender Saluja, who is Nath’s media coordinator, questioned how the BJP leader knew the figure, Rs 281 crore, on Monday morning, before the details had been released. “What kind of collusion is this?” he asked, according to The Indian Express. He alleged the searches were carried out on the instructions of the BJP and “aimed at maligning the image of the Congress during elections”.
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