Nearly Rs 16 cr seized as I-T raids people linked to Kamal Nath

Nearly Rs 16 crore was seized as IT department raided the residences of people linked to Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath. The I-T department is conducting searches at 50 locations.

Bhopal:The Income Tax Department sleuths searched and seized huge cash and several documents during raids at the residence of MP Chief Minister Kamal Nath's Officer on special duty (OSD) Praveen Kakkar and some other premises, here on Sunday.

Locations in Indore, Bhopal, and Delhi (Green Park) are being raided and those being searched include Nath's OSD Praveen Kakkar, former advisor Rajendra Miglani and executives linked to his brother-in-law's firm Moser Bayer and his nephew Ratul Puri's company.

According to reports, nearly Rs 16 crore cash has been seized so far.

They raided Kakkar's office on the sixth floor of Platinum Plaza building, here, and his residence in the Nadir Colony. Kakkar's house and office in Indore were also searched by them, sources said.

Kakkar, an ex-police officer and the President medal recipient, had also served as OSD to former Union minister Kanti Lal Bhuria.

Similarly, the residence of Ashwini Sharma, manager at an non-government organisation, was searched at Platinum Plaza's fourth floor. The official also identified luxury cars reportedly belonging to Sharma.

The IT teams were accompanied by Central Reserve Police Force troopers.

A team of about 200 I-T department and police officers swooped on these premises at around 3 am and some undisclosed cash has been recovered till now, they said.

The searches are linked to the suspected movement of hawala money during the ongoing polls season and tax evasion, they said.

Ratul Puri was last week grilled by the Enforcement Directorate in Delhi in connection with the Rs 3,6000 AgustaWestland helicopters purchase probe.

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