Jangipur: Jangipur: The Income Tax Department officials during a raid recovered Rs 11 crore from former West Bengal minister and MLA Zakir Hossain's house on the wee hours of Thursday.
Three teams belonging to the IT department raided Zakir Hossain's house and three other business establishments. Hossain told reporters, "I was cooperating with the IT officials during the raid. I was highest tax payer in the district." People began gathering at the spot after hearing the IT raid.
Sources in the IT Department said that the amount was seized from his residence, factory and rice mill. They further revealed that apart from the cash, the IT sleuths seized several paper and electronic documents from the places that they raided. Sources said that the IT Department officials have also informed the Enforcement Directorate about the cash seizure.
"We are in the process of counting the money found in raids at different premises owned by Hossain, including from several places located in Murshidabad . We want to know the source of such huge cash," an IT Department official said.
Reacting to the development, Bengal BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said “previously we have witnessed similar cash recovery from the residence of a close aide of former West Bengal education minister, Partha Chatterjee in relation to the multi- crore teachers’ recruitment scam. The entire ruling party in West Bengal is submerged in neck- dip corruption."
However, TMC MP Dr Santanu Sen alleged that the central agencies are deliberately targeting the Trinamool Congress leaders isolating them. “Had similar raid and search operations been conducted at the residences of the state BJP leaders, unaccounted money of much higher volumes would have been recovered,” Sen said.
