New Delhi: The Income Tax Department raided at least 22 locations in Delhi and adjoining areas on Tuesday over charges of alleged benami deals worth Rs 1,000 crore linked to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad and others.
I-T department officials said the raids began early in the morning at the residences of some prominent businessmen and real estate agents in Delhi, Gurgaon and Rewari, PTI reported.
"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.
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 Bihars ruling coalition led by Kumar. His sons Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav are ministers in the government.
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 Prasads 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.
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