IT conducts raids on houses of Kamal Nath’s aides

Ahead of the coming Lok Sabha Elections, the Income Tax Department on Sunday conducted pre-dawn raids on more than 50 locations of Delhi and Madhya Pradesh. The raids were conducted on charges of alleged tax evasion against people linked to Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath.

According to IT department officials, the raids were linked to suspected movement of 'hawala' money during the elections season and tax evasion. The people, who were being searched, included Kamal Nath's former Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Pravin Kakkad, former adviser Rajendra Miglani. Interestingly, both of them resigned from their posts prior to the announcement of LS polls.

The IT department officials further informed that the searches were also conducted on executives of his brother-in-law's firm and his nephew Ratul Puri's company. Notably, Ratul Puri was grilled by the ED in Delhi last week in connection with the AgustaWestland helicopters purchase probe.

However, the IT department said that the documents seized during the searches were being scrutinized.

Meanwhile, reacting to the raids, a Congress leader in MP accused the Narendra Modi-led central government of targeting opposition leaders for "political vendetta". Another Congress leader Bhupendra Gupta said, "The BJP government has been targeting opposition leaders across the country due to political enmity."