A team of Income Tax officials on Thursday arrived at the Congress’ office in Patna and served a notice to the party after Rs eight lakh was allegedly recovered from a vehicle parked outside their compound, ANI reported. One person was detained in connection with the alleged irregularities.
Congress Bihar in-charge Shaktisinh Gohil confirmed to reporters that an IT team came to their office, and informed that few lakhs in cash had been recovered from a vehicle.
“We told the team how we could know whose vehicle had come at the state party office and what was inside it,” Gohil said, according to the Hindustan Times. “Somebody can put anything inside a vehicle and come to our party office. We are nowhere responsible for it.”
The Congress leader called the raid a political conspiracy of the Opposition parties to put pressure because the Grand Alliance – Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India (Marxist) – were set to sweep the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar.
“Twenty-two kg of gold, 2.5 kg silver was recovered from Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Raxaul,” Gohil added. “Why is the IT department not going there?”
The politician said he and his party would cooperate with the investigation as they do not have any black money. “The entire black money is with the BJP,” Gohil said.
Meanwhile, unidentified officials told the Hindustan Times that special units of IT officials have been formed to keep a tab on the flow of cash and other material during the ongoing election. However, the department has not issued a formal statement yet.
The Rashtriya Janata Party said the timely raids on the Congress office showed that the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (United) have “accepted defeat”. “Income tax department has started raiding Opposition parties. Do you understand the meaning?? This is called accepting defeat,” the party tweeted in Hindi.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal will contest the Assembly elections from 144 seats, the Congress 70 and the Left parties – Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India (Marxist) – will together contest from 29 seats. There are 243 seats in the Bihar Assembly.
The Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party, meanwhile, have announced an almost 50:50 seat-sharing agreement earlier this month.
Voting for the Bihar polls will be held in three phases – the first on October 28, second on November 3 and the third on November 7. The results will be announced on November 10. This will be the first election to take place in the country amid the coronavirus crisis.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!