PTI, NEW DELHI: The Income Tax(I-T) Department Wednesday conducted searches on multiple premises linked to AAP leader and Delhi Transport minister Kailash Gahlot in connection with a tax evasion case and seized about Rs 35 lakh in cash, officials said.
The raids sparked condemnation from Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal seeking an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to people for what he called “constantly troubling” his government. The AAP also dubbed the raids as “political vendetta”.
Another AAP leader Atishi accused the Modi government of trying to “intimidate” Gahlot for successfully leading the party’s legal battle against disqualification of its 20 MLAs in the Delhi High Court and for implementing a scheme for doorstep delivery of essential public services.
The Najafgarh MLA, who is an advocate by profession, holds charge of several departments in the Kejriwal government.
They include Law and Administrative Reforms department that are handling the matter of disqualification of 20 AAP legislators for holding posts of parliamentary secretary, and the doorstep delivery of services scheme, respectively.
The BJP’s Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari demanded removal of Gahlot from his post
An IT department official, who did not want to be named, said the raids were conducted at 16 locations in the national capital and adjoining Gurgaon by a team of over 60 sleuths and police personnel.
The official said an amount of about Rs 35 lakh in cash was seized from various premises and also claimed to have recovered “incriminating documents” of multiple accommodation entries and benami assets.
An accomodation entry refers to documents that reflect fake loans transacted by bogus or shell firms to evade taxes.
