Leaders of several political groups have turned their party offices into underground banks as the scramble to hide black money peaked after the November 8 scrapping of high-value banknotes, an India Today investigation has found.

Down the dark road of evasion, representatives of some of the country's major political parties were filmed double-dipping as brokers for undeclared wealth. They were found to be carrying out their shady operations right inside their party offices in Ghaziabad, Noida and Delhi.

India Today's undercover reporters met Virendra Jatav, Ghaziabad district president of the BSP, posing as a businessman. Jatav was quick to barter the investigative team's fictitious Rs 10 crore for a big commission.

"It will be exchanged at a cost of 35-40 per cent. Nothing less than 40 per cent," the BSP leader said.

He refused bargain, but promised repayment in hard cash. "It will be done 'hand-to-hand'. Take it in cash," Jatav said. "...Rs 10 crore will definitely be done," he guaranteed.

Titu Yadav, a member of the ruling Samajwadi Party's Noida Mahanagar unit, quoted the same rate as he offered to replace the invalid notes with new currency.

"The rate (for exchanging black money) is 40 per cent," he said.

"You mean for exchanging the old notes, right?" asked the undercover reporter.

"You'll get the new ones. Yes. Take it 'hand-to-hand' at 40 per cent," replied Yadav.

Several politicians were found to be playing touts for the illegal currency trade right in the heart of the national capital.

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At the AICC headquarters in New Delhi, Tariq Siddiqui, a member of the Congress, was willing to introduce India Today's investigative journalists to an NGO for exchanging unlawful money.

"Fine," replied Siddiqui after the undercover crew proposed to dispose of a fake amount of Rs 1 crore in the black market.

A former director of the Delhi Minorities Finance Corporation, Siddiqui was also ready to go the extra mile by reaching out to some other non-profits.

"I'll also explore a couple of other channels but I am not fully sure about them as yet. That person was saying he had it (the new currency) and could be contacted. If that can be done as well, it will benefit you," he said.

Next, India Today met Ravi Kumar, general secretary of the NCP's Delhi branch.

Kumar agreed to short-change Rs 1 crore for a 30 per cent profit. "Bring it now, sir. ...I am responsible for 70 per cent of the amount. You'll get it back in cheque. What else?" he said.

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Asked how he would organise the swap and how his cheque payment would reflect in books, Kumar suggested setting up a bogus PR firm. His party, he said, would then hire the phoney company on paper.

"We'll issue a letter for election campaign, saying we have hired this company to run our campaign in Delhi. That's it. ...It's shown (on paper) as a campaigner for the MCD elections," he explained.

An amount of Rs 70 lakh from Rs 1 crore in black, Kumar added, would be credited back into the company account as fee for managing the NCP's PR exercise for municipal polls in the city.

He then took India Today's special to his boss, Kanwar Pratap Singh, the wealthy president of the NCP's Delhi unit.

Singh offered to pay the money back in instalments.

"It won't be paid back at one go even through cheque," he said. "It will be done in parts. You know there's difficulty because of restrictions on black funds."

At the Janata Dal (United)'s Delhi office, its local vice-president Satish Saini was quick to seek banned notes in bulk to exchange them with legal currency.

"Tell me the maximum amount. I mean tell me what's your extreme (upper) limit, brother," he asked.

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"It's 10 (crore) maximum," said the reporter. "Fine," replied Saini. His commission was equally fat - at around 30 per cent.

"It's around 40 per cent these days," Saini said.

After negotiation, he brought it down to around 30 per cent. "It can be one per cent above or below 30," Saini said.

DENIED TALKING ABOUT BLACK MONEY

Following the broadcast of the sting operation, India Today reached out to political leaders caught on camera trying to swing black-money deals.

Titu Yadav of the SP denied speaking about any illicit transaction. "I didn't say anything," he said, when asked on the phone about the conversation he had with India Today's undercover reporters about converting revoked notes into legal tender.

Congress party's Tariq Siddiqui hung up the phone when the reporters called him again to seek his comments after the story was aired. His phone went unanswered later.

Senior Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit, however, condemned Siddiqui's act, as exposed by India Today and called for action against him.

"I condemn any such act. There should be a proper probe into this matter. Action should be taken against the person and the NGO, who are involved in such acts," he said.

"Wrong number," was the response when India Today dialled the mobile number of Virendra Jatav, BSP's Ghaziabad district president.

Satish Saini of the JD(U) didn't answer multiple calls on his phone number.

NCP's Ravi Kumar denied that he spoke about any illegitimate deal. "There was no conversation regarding black money. It was all about paying taxes," he claimed.

Congress spokesman Salman Soz also vowed the party would act against Siddiqui. He urged the government to prosecute Siddiqui and other leaders found facilitating black-money conversions.

"Prosecute them, go after them. Go after them hard," he remarked.

Soz, however, alleged the government was biased in dealing with suspects of financial frauds from within the BJP, a charge BJP spokesman Sambit Patra dismissed.

Senior BSP leader Sudhindra Bhadoria echoed Soz's comments.

"We feel that there's law of the land. This law of the land must deal with such people with an iron hand," he said. "I think at this time nobody, who commits this fraud should be spared," he added.

Former chief election commissioner TS Krishnamurthy maintained that all political parties pursued double-standards over electoral reforms. Politics, he insisted, remains the root of the black-money scourge and that all parties deal in unaccounted funds.

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