The income tax officers have conducted a raid on at least 50 locations in Delhi and Madhya Pradesh including the homes of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s Kamal Nath’s former private secretary and former advisor this morning in connection with an alleged hawala case.
According to sources, Rs. 9 crores have been recovered from the Chief Minister’s former private secretary Praveen Kakkar and former advisor Rajendra Kumar Miglani in Delhi. The premises of some executives linked to Mr Miglani’s brother-in-law’s firm Moser Baer and his nephew Ratul Puri in Noida were raided.
A team of about 200 IT department and police officers swooped down on these premises around 3 am and some undisclosed cash was recovered, they said.
In Indore, the raids were conducted by a team of officials, who arrived from Delhi, at Kakkad’s residence in Vijay Nagar area and other places associated with him, sources in the Income Tax department said. They said documents seized during the searches were being scrutinised in detail.
The raids are also being conducted against Kolkata-based businessman Paras Mal Lodha, the sources added.
Kakkad, a former Madhya Pradesh police officer, was appointed OSD to Nath after the Congress-led government came to power in the state last year.
He earlier served as OSD to former Union minister Kantilal Bhuria during the UPA regime. Bhuria is contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha poll from Ratlam-Jhabua seat in MP. Kakkad’s family is associated with a number of businesses, including hospitality.
Ratul Puri was last week grilled by the Enforcement Directorate in Delhi in connection with the Rs 36,000 AgustaWestland helicopters purchase probe. Reacting to the raids, a Congress leader in MP accused the BJP-led central government of targeting opposition leaders for “political vendetta”.
