NEW DELHI: In yet another relief to BSP boss Mayawati , the income tax department has released Rs 400 crore in fixed deposits belonging to her brother Anand Kumar and his group of companies, holding the money to be legit.

The I-T department, which had seized the deposits in June, has held that the cash was kosher since Anand had paid tax on it. All investigations into the matter have been closed, potentially clearing the way for the former UP chief minister’s sibling to invest into ventures of his choice.

Kumar, who runs around a dozen companies registered in Noida and Delhi, had so far been reluctant to invest the pile, with the sole exception of the effort to provide bank guarantees to the promoters of a luxury hotel in Kaushambi in Ghaziabad to purchase 60 acres of land in Ghaziabad — an initiative which brought taxmen to his door.

The younger brother of Mayawati had earlier attracted charges of influence peddling, but was vigorously defended by his sister who trashed the allegations as conspiracy and an effort to malign her image.

Coming close on the heels of CBI’s decision to shut down its disproportionate assets case against the dalit czarina — something which was widely seen through the prism of the rescue acts BSP performed for the UPA government — the decision of the I-T department spells the second big respite for Mayawati.

All efforts to get through to Kumar or Mayawati for their reaction were to no avail, while a questionnaire sent to the BSP spokesperson was not responded to.

The I-T department had happened upon Anand’s fixed deposits during a raid on the Kaushambi-based luxury hotel. His companies had made two drafts for Rs 395 crore as collateral for a loan that the hotelier had sought from public sector Housing and Urban Development Corporation for the purchase of 60 acres.

The FDs in public sector banks in Ghaziabad and Noida were attached and Kumar was asked about his companies and their funds as well as his links with the promoters of the hotel.

'Tax paid'

On June 27-29, I-T teams conducted searches on more than 27 premises which included a medical college in UP and the Kaushambi hotel. The exercise threw up details of more unusual transactions, including one in which a 22-year-old boy with a declared annual income of just a few lakhs had invested Rs 10 crore into the ventures of the hotelier.

However, Kumar claimed that his money was clean, and cited the tax he had paid as proof. The I-T department accepted his arguments after four months.

