New Delhi/Bhopal: The Income Tax department searched the properties of Kamal Nath’s nephew Ratul Puri and his close aides Praveen Kakkar and Rajendra Kumar Miglani on Sunday morning as officers swooped down on 50 locations in a pre-dawn raid.
The raids started from the homes of Nath's Officer on Special Duty Praveen Kakkar in Indore and former advisor Rajendra Kumar Miglani in Delhi, sources said.
According to sources, Rs 9 crore has been found from six places, including the homes of the two businessmen - Ashwani Sharma and Pratik Joshi - who were earlier in police service. The two were under the scanner of the taxmen in connection with an alleged hawala (illegal transaction) case, sources said.
A team of around 15 income tax officials from Delhi had reached the residence of Kakkar, a close aide of Nath, in Vijay Nagar of Indore at 3 am for the raid. A showroom in the same colony and some other properties were also searched.
Ratul Puri, meanwhile, has been under the scanner for a money laundering case related to the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam. Puri has denied any wrongdoing on his part in the case.
The searches, currently underway, have also been conducted at properties of the Amira Group and Moser Baer.
According to sources, the action was being carried out at 50 establishments in Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Goa.
The raids are likely to trigger another political slugfest ahead of the elections as Kakkar is a very close aide of Kamal Nath. The Congress and other opposition parties have repeatedly accused the ruling BJP at the Centre of misusing government agencies to target its rivals.
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