RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in connection to benami land deals

corrupt land deals

(With inputs from PTI)

Benami land deals: Lalu under I-T scanner; raids conducted at 22 locations in Delhi and NCR

NEW DELHI: The Income Tax department on Tuesday carried out raids at 22 locations in Delhi-NCR on companies and people associated withworth Rs 1,000 crore.Officials said the department began raiding the premises of some prominent businessmen and real estate agents in Delhi, Gurgaon, Rewari and few others early in the day."People and businessmen connected to the land deal involving Lalu Prasad and his family are being 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 are conducting the raids, they said.While raids are being conducted at a dozen locations, ten other official premises are being surveyed by the I-T department, they said.The BJP had last week accused Lalu, his MP-daughter Misa Bharti and his two sons, both Bihar government ministers, of being involved inworth over Rs 1,000 crore, and asked the central government to probe one such transaction in Delhi.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.Lalu's official residence was the address of the owners of the firms allegedly floated by his family members, Ravi Shankar Prasad had said.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 had claimed.Bihar's biggest shopping mall spread over 7.5 lakh square feet is coming up in Patna as part of such dubious transactions, he had alleged at a news conference held here.