IT Raids on Delhi Minister, Dept Claim 120 Cr Evaded

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New Delhi :

The Income Tax department carried out search operations at the premises of Kailash Gahlot who holds the portfolios of Transport, Law, Revenue, Information Technology and Administrative Reforms in the Delhi Cabinet. The department said that it has found documents that show the Minister had evaded tax worth Rs 120 crore.

A senior Income Tax official said that they have found evidence of tax evasion to the tune of Rs 120 crore but the figure is “conservative” as of now.

Documents recovered from the Minister’s premises show office boys, peons and other employees to have been extended loans and to be holding equity worth Rs 70 crore in several “shell” companies, the official added.

“We have also detected several benami properties in the names of employees and a huge piece of land in the name of a driver,” the official said.

The official also said that they have found evidence of the minister’s investment in a property in Dubai.

“From one shell company director, loans and entries of about Rs 20 crore were spotted and large-scale investments in properties through General Power of Attorney were discovered,” the official added.

The officials raided 16 residential and business premises of Gahlot and his family members spread across Vasant Kunj, Paschim Vihar, Najafgarh and Gurugram on Wednesday and Thursday.

Income Tax Department spokesperson Subhi Ahluwalia said that the raids on Gahlot and his family members related to two companies — Brisk Infrastructure and Developer Pvt Ltd and Corporate International Financial Services Pvt Ltd.

Following the department’s raids at Gahlot’s residence and business premises, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted “Friendship with Nirav Modi, (Vijay) Mallya, and raid on us? Modiji, you conducted raids on me, Satyendar Jain and Manish Sisodia as well. What happened to that? Did you get anything? Apologise to Delhi before conducting another raid on its elected government.”