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On 8 November, the government demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, claiming that the objective was to curb black money circulation in the market. If that is truly the case, then why is the government turning a blind eye to the evidence seized by investigating agencies during raids on the Aditya Birla and Sahara groups?
In November 2014, the investigating agencies took hold of incriminating documents from the premises of these two private companies.
On the basis of these documents, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court by senior advocate Prashant Bhushan on 15 November 2016. Prior to this, on 25 October 2016, Bhushan had written to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to initiate a probe into the matter.
In one of his tweets, Bhushan claimed that the government brought forward the demonetisation scheme because of this black money exposé.
The Quint accessed a copy of the petition filed by Bhushan. During the raids on the Sahara Group, the investigating agencies seized cash worth Rs 135 crore apart from the incriminating documents. The log sheet allegedly shows that from the period between 12 November 2013 and 22 February 2014, cash was transferred to several important public figures and politicians.
The documents seized during the raids on the Aditya Birla Group in October 2013 also lead to the recovery of several implicating documents.
In the petition to the Supreme Court, Bhushan has demanded the formation of a Special Investigative Team to probe the matter. These documents reveal a clear connivance between the corporates and the politicians. What is also evident is that it's not just one political party that has accepted bribes – almost all are involved in corrupt activities.
Will a fair investigation be carried out, which not only nails those who were involved in corruption, but also those who tried to protect the corrupt?
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