In a major search operation the IT-department has recovered foreign assets worth over Rs 200 crores after it raided 13 properties in Haryana, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh, belonging to Haryana Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi and his family. The search operation began on July 23 and lasted for more than 4 days.
“The group, controlled by persons who have a significant political presence in a neighbouring state for decades and are occupying responsible political positions has been generating large amounts of undisclosed income over several decades,” the IT Department said in a statement.
“Evidence detected so far reveals undisclosed cash dealings of huge amounts in immovable property transactions, construction among others,” it added.
Though the statement did not name anyone official sources in the department confirmed that the case involves Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi. Kuldeep Bishnoi, son of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, is a Congress MLA from the Adampur constituency in Haryana.
The Income Tax department in its statement confirmed that it has “successfully lifted the mask and has detected undisclosed foreign assets worth over Rs 200 crores, apart from domestic tax evasion of more than Rs 30 crores.”
Confirming that these foreign assets have been stashed in countries like the British Virgin Islands, Panama, UK and UAE and New Jersey for decades, the officials in the department said that this might invite “multi-agency ramifications”. This meant that the IT Dept might share the evidence against Kuldeep Bishnoi with agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and others.
Taking to Twitter, Kuldeep Bishnoi claimed that the BJP was trying to “harass” him and his family. “The way the BJP tried to harass me and my family with political hatred for four days, it reflects its close mind. Even my aged and sick mother was not spared. I have always lived a life of honesty and principles. Neither I feared the BJP nor I will,” Bishnoi had tweeted in Hindi on July 27.
https://twitter.com/bishnoikuldeep/status/1155017968998219776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Recently, the IT department had raided over 50 locations related to Madhya Pradesh CM and Congress veteran leader, Kamal Nath.
Kamal Nath’s OSD, his brother in law Deepak Puri who is the chairman of Moser Baer group and several other locations in Bhopal, Indore, Delhi, and Goa were raided by over 300 I-T officials. Documents seized from Deepak Puri’s location have revealed that the Moser Baer group had been involved in converting Rs. 242 crore of money to dollars by raising bogus bills.