I-T raids against Kamal Nath aides continue for second day

The Income Tax Department raids targeting close aides of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath continued for a second day across 52 locations of Delhi and Madhya Pradesh on charges of alleged tax evasion and hawala transactions in the wake of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Bhopal/New Delhi: The Income Tax Department crackdown on the close aides of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath and others continued Monday, with search teams reportedly seizing documents and cash for a second day.
The pre-dawn raids beginning Sunday were carried out in 52 locations across Delhi and Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal and Indore on charges of alleged tax evasion and hawala transactions in the wake of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
A team of nearly 200 officials from I-T department and state police swooped down on the premises at around 3am Sunday. While there is no official word on the exact amount of cash seized so far, sources said that undisclosed cash amounting to Rs 10-14 crore has been recovered so far.
At least half-a-dozen people, linked to alleged hawala dealer Paras Mal Lodha, are being questioned by the department.
Sources said that there is a "strong possibility" of the cash recovered during the search operations being used as an election inducement to fund political campaigns and bribe voters in the poll-bound state and in Delhi.
A preliminary report of the raids has also been shared with the Central Board of Direct Taxes, the policy-making body of the I-T department, and the Election Commission in Delhi.
The search operation is being carried out by the investigation wing of the department in Delhi with assistance from its units in Bhopal and neighbouring Raipur. Sleuths used buses, auto-rickshaws and taxis to fan out in the state to keep the surprise element intact, they added.
Those targeted included Nath's former Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Pravin Kakkar, former adviser Rajendra Miglani, Ashwani Sharma and executives linked to his brother-in-law's firm Moser Bayer and his nephew Ratul Puri's company.

Reacting to the raids late Sunday, Nath said in a statement, "The reason behind the I-T raids is not clear yet. It would be appropriate to speak on this after the situation is clear. But, the entire country knows how the constitutional institutions were misused over the last five years."
"These institutions are being used to scare people. When the current political dispensation feels cornered on the development work done so far, they use these tactics against their opponents," the MP CM said.

Meanwhile, MP Congress's media cell vice president Bhupendra Gupta, also a former OSD to Nath, said , "The BJP government has been targeting opposition leaders across the country due to political enmity. Due to such act of political vendetta, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister (N Chandrababu Naidu) and DMK leader M K Stalin had to stage protest against the Centre."