The Income Tax Department has charged six family members of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, including his wife, son and daughters, under the new and stringent anti- benami assets Act in connection with its probe into land deals worth Rs 1,000 crore.
The department has also served notices of attachment of assets to Lalu's MP daughter Misa Bharti, son-in-law Shailesh Kumar, his wife and former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi, son and Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav and daughters Chanda and Ragini Yadav.
Political vendetta ke aadhar par ye galat baatein chalaai ja rahi hain...Humne kuch nahi chupaya hai, humein bulaya jaayega toh hum jawab dene ke liye taiyyar hain (This is a political vendetta and false agenda is being spread...We have not hidden anything and are ready to give answers.)Tejashwi Yadav, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister
The Income Tax Department, on 19 June, seized benami properties of Misa Bharti, Shailesh Kumar and Tejaswi Yadav.
The department has attached about a dozen plots and buildings in Delhi and Bihar including a farm house and land in the Palam Vihar area, a residential building in the upmarket New Friends Colony area of south Delhi, nine plots on a 256.75 decimal land area in Phulwari Sharif area in Patna, where a shopping mall was being constructed, among few others in the same area in Bihar's capital.
The department has said these alleged benami assets bear a "deed" value of about Rs 9.32 crore but the taxman has estimated their current market value at Rs 170-180 crore.
Bharti and her husband Shailesh were also summoned by the department for questioning in this case in the past but the couple skipped the dates.
Official sources said they are expected to be summoned again before more assets in this case are attached similarly.
The officials added that a few more such assets will soon be attached in the case. Misa and Shailesh have allegedly skipped I-T summons in the past. A chartered accountant, Rajesh Kumar Agrawal, allegedly linked to Bharti and others, was also arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on 22 May. Agrawal is alleged to have aided in illegal transactions involving Prasad's kin.
Misa and Shailesh allegedly have links with a firm – Ms Mishail Packers and Printers Private Limited – which is suspected to have entered into benami deals for the purchase of a farm house in Delhi’s Bijwasan area.
The RJD chief, however, had sought to put up a brave face after the raids, saying he was “not scared at all” and would continue to fight against “fascist forces”.
The department has been investigating the case for quite sometime now and had carried out country-wide searches last month against those who had a role or were linked with the purchase and sale of these assets
(With inputs from PTI and ANI.)
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