Bihar Deputy CM cries political vendetta after Lalu Yadav and family charged under anti-benami law
The Rashtriya Janata Dal chief’s son Tejashwi Yadav said he was not aware they had received any notice from the Income Tax department.
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday cried political vendetta hours after it was reported that the Income Tax department had charged him and several family members – including his parents Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi, and sister Misa Bharti – under the anti-benami transactions Act. “All these rumours are spread because of political vendetta and political conspiracies,” he said according to PTI.
Tejashwi Yadav also said he was not aware of receiving any income tax notice. “I have not seen any such I-T notice. Whatever is being said is conjecture and plain lie,” he said, according to Hindustan Times.
He also accused to media of carrying unsubstantiated information. “If any news channel or newspaper has some proof, the they must show the said notices, or else those organisations should tender apology who had reported “false” news,” Tejashwi Yadav was quoted as saying by ANI.
The I-T department on Tuesday attached 12 plots of land belonging to Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family members, including daughter Misa Bharti, her husband Shailesh, sisters Ragini and Chanda Yadav, his son Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav and former Bihar CM Rabri Devi.
The development comes a day after the I-T department provisionally attached a few immovable properties in connection with its investigation into the Rs 1,000-crore benami land deals and tax evasion case in which Yadav and his family are believed to have a hand. A benami property is one bought in a certain person’s name though the real beneficiary is someone else.
I-T sleuths attached the properties after Bharti and her husband Kumar failed to appear before the department despite two summons for questioning. The summons were issued days after Bharti’s chartered accountant, Rakesh Agrawal, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate, which is looking into a separate Rs-8,000 crore money-laundering case. He is believed to have helped the RJD chief’s family members carry out illegal transactions, according to PTI.