In a major setback to the family of former Railway Minister lalu Prasad, the Income Tax Department on Monday issued a final attachment order to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief’s daughter Misa Bharti and her husband Sailesh Kumar. The attachments include a farmhouse in South Delhi’s Bijwasan, a house in the Capital’s Defence Colony area and another property in Patna.
In a separate development, lalu and his son Tejashwi Yadav sought more time from the CBI to appear before it for questioning in connection with a case related to alleged irregularities in tender process of two hotels of Railways. last week, the CBI had summoned both of them to come to CBI headquarters on September 11 and 12 for questioning.
Officials of Income Tax department said that the final attachment order came 90 days after the Department had provisionally attached the properties.
In June, the department had served notices of attachment of assets to lalu, his wife Rabri, son Tejashwi (former Bihar deputy chief minister) and daughter Misa Bharti, and son-in-law Shailesh Kumar.
The attachment notice was issued by the tax department under section 24(3) of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act; Prasad’s wife, son and daughter have been identified as beneficiaries of the benami properties, which are spread across Delhi, Gurugram, Rewari and Patna.
The department had attached about a dozen plots and buildings in Delhi and Bihar, including a farm house and land in the Palam Vihar area, a residential building in the upmarket New Friends Colony area of south Delhi, nine plots on a 256.75 decimal land area in Phulwari Sharif area in Patna, where a shopping mall was being constructed, among a few others in the same area in Bihar’s Capital.
The I-T had earlier questioned Rabri, Tejashwi, Misa and her husband Kumar in connection with the benami assets case. Benami properties are those in which the real beneficiary is not the one in whose name the property has been purchased. The lalu family has called these cases to be borne out of “political vendetta” against them.
The law stipulates jail up to seven years for violators, and fine up to 25 per cent of the fair market value of the property.