I-T Dept Raids Uttar Pradesh Bureaucrats Across 15 Locations

Four UP-based bureaucrats, including two IAS officers, were raided on charges of tax evasion.

The department had carried out similar raids against some other UP bureaucrats last month (Photo: Reuters)

The Income Tax department, on 24 May, carried out searches at the premises of four Uttar Pradesh-based bureaucrats, including two IAS officers, in connection with its probe against them on charges of tax evasion.

Several I-T teams have covered at least 15 premises of the officers in Lucknow, Noida, Greater Noida, Meerut, Baghpat, Mainpuri and Delhi since early morning, I-T officials say.

The officers include IAS officer and Director (Health) Hriday Shankar Tewari, IAS officer and Additional CEO of Greater Noida Authority VK Sharma and his wife and Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Mamta Sharma, and special secretary (prisons) SK Singh.

The I-T officials said the department had been investigating charges of tax evasion against them. The department had carried out similar raids against some other UP bureaucrats last month.

I-T Dept Unearths 400 Benami Deals

In a separate statement, the Income Tax department said that it unerathed 400 benami transactions and attached properties worth Rs 600 crore in about 240 cases all over India. In a statement, the I-T department said:

The Income-tax Directorates of Investigation have identified more than 400 benami transactions up to May 23, 2017. These include deposits in bank accounts, plots of land, flat and jewellery.

Keen to implement the new Benami Act to ensure "visible outcomes on the ground", the tax department last week set up 24 dedicated Benami Prohibition Units (BPUs) all over India.

The department started initiating actions under the new Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016 from 1 November last year. The law provides for a maximum punishment of seven years in jail and a fine.

Benami property includes movable or immovable, tangible or intangible, corporeal or incorporeal property which is in name of someone other than the beneficial owner.

(With inputs from PTI)