The Income Tax department has conducted perhaps the largest raids right before 2019 Lok Sabha elections which is just days away. As we reported, senior AICC (All India Congress Committee) official, SM Moin’s resident in Delhi was raided by the Income Tax department. A Republic report said that Moin is under the scanner for receiving Rs 20 crore from Bhopal, and the raid was done pertaining that transfer.
We will be updating this article with all the latest information pertaining to this raid and the high political drama that is ensuing owing to these raids that might put Congress in the dock right before elections commence.
9th April 3:30 PM
CRPF Commandant MS Verma said that the Income Tax raids at the premises of Ashwin Sharma, an associate of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s OSD Praveen Kakkar, are over. He also said that state police officers misbehaved with the paramilitary force. “State police did not know that such operation is going to take place. SHO might have been insecure. He asked us why we are carrying out an operation in his area without his permission,” Verma told media. He said that Madhya Pradesh Police’s SHO Chouhan and DSP misbehaved with CRPF and hurled abuses at them. “Since the matter has gone to a higher level, if I am asked about it, I will definitely tell them,” Verma added.
Madhya Pradesh CM’s private secretary Praveen Kakkar’s residence was also raided by the department. The Income Tax department started raids at the residences of Kakkar in Indore, and RK Miglani’s residence in Delhi who is former advisor of Kamal Nath, on charges of alleged tax evasion.
9th April, 12:30 PM
CBDT Chairman PC Mody and Revenue Secretary AB Pandey have been called by Election Commission on the recent raid conducted on the close aide of MP CM Kamal Nath. Both the officials have given details about raids and recovery of items, to the Election Commission, as reported by ANI.
Visuals of the ongoing raids in Bhopal have also emerged where a close associate of the OSD of CM Kamal Nath is being raided.
Bhopal: Inside visuals from the residence of Ashwin Sharma, associate of Praveen Kakkar (OSD to MP CM) as Income Tax raid is underway there. A team of Forest Dept is also present there. #MadhyaPradesh pic.twitter.com/8v42ZoiqVc
— ANI (@ANI) April 9, 2019
9th April, 12:00 PM
Indian Express and Times Now were caught casting aspersions and lying that the BJP leaders knew the details of the Income Tax raid on Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath’s aide. They said that BJP’s Kailash Vijayvargiya tweeted the Rs 281 crore figure on Monday morning even before the official announcement was made by the CBDT. However, the said figure was already reported by the news agency PTI on Sunday itself.
9th April, 9:00 AM
Reports have now emerged that the Deputy Secretary of the Finance Ministry has written to the Election Commission regarding the Income Tax raids against AICC functionary and the revelation that the illicit money was transferred to a “major political party”. The letter to the Election Commission says that the Finance Ministry agrees with the observation that such malpractices need to come to an end. The letter said that the Finance Ministry agrees that such operations need to be conducted ruthlessly. The letter also says that the departments have always been fair and impartial. This letter comes after several questions have been raised on the impartiality of the Election Commission and Income Tax Department by members of the opposition and especially Congress which is now under the I-T scanner.
#Breaking | Finance Ministry writes to EC over raids. More details by @SherineElizabe2. pic.twitter.com/VAmHPPKTmX
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) April 9, 2019
8th April, 11:00 PM
While Republic TV reporter Amit Choudhry was trying to report the raids from the location of Moin’s residence, he was heckled, pushed, abused and assaulted repeatedly by supporters of Moin who were attempting to stop the reporter from doing his job. It is also reported that the mob also attempted to damage the camera and equipment of the media crew.
Read details: Freedom of press? Congress supporters attack Republic journalist who was covering the I-T raids on AICC official
8th April 2019
After the raids in Madhya Pradesh, Income Tax officials have detected a racket of collection of unaccounted cash through various persons, including businessmen, politicians and bureaucrats. The amount of such unaccounted case detected so far is Rs 281 crore. Unaccounted cash of ₹ 14.6 crores also has been found so far in the raids, along with liquor bottles, arms and hide skins of the tiger.
The residence of SM Moin in Delhi, who is a senior functionary of Congress, was raided by the Income Tax department. Moin is under the scanner for receiving Rs 20 crore from Bhopal, and the raid was done pertaining that transfer.
Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel rushed to the residence of Moin in Delhi when I-T officers were conducting search operations there. According to the website of the Congress party, SM Moin is the Administrative Officer of AICC. Therefore, it can be presumed that the major political party mentioned in the CBDT release is the Congress party.
A press release issued by the CBDT said that a part of this amount was transferred to the head office of a major political party located at Tughlaq Road in Delhi, which included Rs 20 crore transferred through hawala route. This amount was moved through a senior functionary of the party.
7th April 2019
Income-Tax (IT) Department had conducted raids on more than 50 locations connected to Kamal Nath, MP Chief Minister’s OSD, Ratul Puri (Kamal Nath’s nephew), Amira Group, and Moser Bayer. The IT Department had recovered a diary during these raids, which has revealed the money trail between shell companies to convert crores of rupees into dollars using bogus bills. The seized diary suggests that nearly Rs.242 crores were transferred to five ‘shell’ companies owned by Parasmal Lodha. A Kolkata-based company was also used for infusion of bogus capital to the tune of Rs.125 crores. Reportedly, Moser Baer group also bought shares worth Rs.250 crores through shell companies from Mauritius. The diary also reveals that Deepak Puri had allegedly collected money from various sources to get it converted into dollars through issuing bogus bills.
The Income Tax department had conducted raids in over 50 locations with over 300 Tax sleuths
Read details: Brother-in-law of Congress leader Kamal Nath converted nearly Rs. 242 crores to dollars using bogus bills
