In Madhya Pradesh, tax officials double up as Covid-19 warriors; recover assets worth crores

New Delhi: What could have been a movie plot turned out be a reality in Bhopal of Madhya Pradesh on Thursday morning. About 150 income tax sleuths posed as Covid-19 warriors to conduct income tax raids at several places in the city.

I-T sleuths carried out searches at properties belonging to Raghvendra Singh Tomar, the owner of Faith Builders, and Piyush Gupta.

Reports said that Tomar is considered close to a powerful MP cabinet minister, who reportedly played key role in toppling the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in the state.

The I-T officials posed as ‘COVID warriors’ to avoid attention during the raids. They hired around 150 cars from a city operator and pasted stickers which read: “Government of Madhya Pradesh Health Department, COVID-19 team welcomes you”, according to a Times of India report.

In the searches, the income tax sleuths reportedly recovered documents pertaining to 100 immovable properties related to the two business groups and about Rs 1 crore in cash and jewellery, reported a leading daily.

The properties, running into crores is apparently located in Bhopal and adjoining Sehore and that includes two upscale cricket grounds. The raids could also lead to major disclosures about links of these groups to powerful bureaucrats, police officers and politicians.

@IncomeTaxIndia Raids underway at premises of major builder and realtor group close to @BJP4MP who had played key role in fall of @INCMP @OfficeOfKNath led govt, he is also close to few IAS-IPS @ndtvindia @ndtv #PrashantBhushan #Dabholkar pic.twitter.com/j8HVKz4sR9

— Anurag Dwary (@Anurag_Dwary) August 20, 2020

I-T raids lead to political fight

After the news of I-T raids spread, Congress spokesperson Narendra Saluja tweeted: “This is nothing but a move to limit the rising stature of a cabinet minister. Recently the same minister publicly admitted Raghvendra Singh Tomar was like his younger brother. Now the BJP needs to clarify the minister’s relations with Mr Tomar”.

BJP hit back saying, “The Income Tax department is doing its job as per law, but Congress is making fake accusations to tarnish the image of BJP.”