After last week’s operations on the Samajwadi leaders and businessmen close to the Samajwadi Party, the Income Tax and GST teams on Thursday once again conducted raids at the offices and premises of industrialists close to Akhilesh Yadav.
Raids at premises linked to a businessman Piyush Jain, who had launched Samajwadi Itr (perfume) last month in the presence of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, have uncovered Rs 150 crore cash so far, IT department sources said.
A photograph that went viral on social media showed IT and GST officials squatting on a floral sheet spread in the middle of a room and surrounded by piles of cash, and three note-counting machines.
In Kanpur, the office and residence of the industrialist was raided by Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) and IT teams on Thursday and they recovered cash worth several crores and other incriminating documents. The industrialist's brother Pammi Jain is a senior leader of the Samajwadi Party.
Besides, IT teams also raided the premises of betel trader KK Agarwal in Kanpur. The raids were initiated by GST (Goods and Services Tax) officials for tax evasion.
Sources said that tax evasion worth crores of rupees was detected during the raids on these businessmen in Kanpur, neighbouring Kannauj, Mumbai and Gujarat. The Income Tax department raided the house, factory, office, cold storage and petrol pump of Piyush Jain, who is close to Akhilesh Yadav. Along with the I-T raid, on specific intelligence inputs, officers of the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), Ahmedabad initiated searches in Kanpur on Thursday at the factory and premises belonging to a pan masala manufacturer and a transporter who was involved in transportation of goods under the cover of fake invoices, without generating e-way bills.
The Income Tax team first reached the Anandpuri residence of Piyush Jain along with currency counting machines. Similar I-T raids were also carried out at Jain's establishments in Mumbai and Gujarat. According to officials, a case of tax evasion of about Rs 150 crore has come to the fore. This tax evasion was mainly done through shell companies.
Piyush Jain, a resident of Anandpuri, basically belongs to Chhipatti in Kannauj. He also owns a house, perfume factory, cold store, petrol pump in Kannauj. Piyush Jain also owns a house, head office and showroom in Mumbai. His companies are also registered in Mumbai itself. The raids began on Thursday morning simultaneously in Kanpur, Mumbai and Gujarat and ended late in the night.