The Income Tax department, on 16 May, conducted raids and surveys on at least 22 locations in Delhi and adjoining areas on charges of alleged benami deals worth Rs 1,000 crore linked to RJD chief Lalu Prasad and others.
Officials said the department began raiding the premises of some prominent businessmen and real estate agents in Delhi, Gurgaon, Rewari and few others since early morning. Searches are also being conducted at the premises of the son of RJD MP PC Gupta and few other businessmen.
Raids were conducted at a dozen locations and ten other official premises were surveyed by the I-T department, officials said.
“People and businessmen connected to the land deal involving Lalu Prasad and his family were searched. There are allegations of benami deals worth about Rs 1,000 crore and subsequent tax evasion,” a senior official said.
A team of about 100 tax department officials and police personnel conducted the raids, officials said.
The BJP had, last week, accused Prasad, his MP-daughter Misa Bharti and his two sons, both Bihar government ministers, of being involved in corrupt land deals worth over Rs 1,000 crore, and asked the central government to probe one such transaction in Delhi.
BJP Can’t Dare Suppress My Voice: Lalu
Lalu took to Twitter after the raids, to declare that he was not afraid of the media.
Sushil Kumar Reacts to the Raids
Reacting to the raids, former deputy chief minister of Bihar Sushil Kumar Modi said Nitish Kumar should re-think his alliance with the RJD.
How can he run government along with people who are embroiled in scams and corruption?
‘Politics of Lalu Has Become Politics of Loot’
Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had alleged that these transactions were a case of “quid pro quo” as they date back to the period when Lalu Prasad was the railway minister, and dared Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to take action against him.
Lalu's RJD is a constituent of Bihar's ruling coalition led by Kumar. His sons Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav are ministers in the government. Prasad alleged that Lalu’s family members floated firms using the address of the RJD chief’s official residence.
Several suspect land deals took place in Bihar, he said, wondering if Kumar would invoke a special law enacted by his government in which assets acquired through illicit money are confiscated in this instance.
"The politics of Lalu Prasad has become politics of loot. Land worth crores of rupees was grabbed for a pittance,” he had said.
One such land deal involving Lalu Prasad and his family members is in Bijwasan in Delhi, he said. "We expect the central government to take appropriate action,” Ravi Shankar Prasad had said.
All the companies owned by Lalu Prasad’s family members for the purpose of these land transactions had no employees, no business activities and no turnover, Ravi Shankar Prasad alleged.
At a news conference, he alleged that an upcoming shopping mall in Patna, said to be Bihar's biggest and spread over 7.5 lakh square feet, was among the dubious transactions.
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