The Income-Tax Department on Thursday attached a ₹400 crore worth “benami” property belonging to Anand Kumar, brother of Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati.
Sources in the department confirmed that the attached property belonging to Mr. Kumar and his wife was allegedly purchased using ₹400-450 crore of funds from benami transactions. However, the actual value of the property was not clear.
The commercial property is located in a prime location of Noida and is said to measure 7 acres.
After the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Ms. Mayawati reappointed her brother, a businessman who maintains a low-key political profile, as her deputy in the party.
Mr. Kumar's son, Akash Anand, who is seen as Ms. Mayawati's successor in the BSP, was also appointed national coordinator, with the BSP overlooking its traditional stand against dynasty politics.
The I-T Department issued an order under section 24(3) of the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988 to attach Mr. Kumar's property, reported PTI , which accessed a copy of the order.
The agency reported that according to the findings of the probe, the tax department detected a “complex web of shareholding” by at least six firms, including dummy companies, who were the “benamidars” or the entities in whose name the “benami” property is standing.
This is not the first time Mr. Kumar's financial dealings and businesses have come under the scanner of officials.
A month after demonetisation of high-currency in November 2016, the Enforcement Directorate detected cash deposits of over ₹ 104 crore in an account belonging to the BSP and ₹1.43 crore in an account belonging to Mr. Kumar in a branch of United Bank of India in Delhi during a routine survey to check suspicious deposits.
Ms. Mayawati then accused the BJP-led Union government of misusing official machinery to “target” and “malign” her party and its top leaders. She said all deposits were made in banks in accordance with tax “norms” as part of the party’s “routine exercise.”
The BJP, however, used it in its 2017 Assembly polls campaign to target Ms. Mayawati with its star campaigner Prime Minister Narendra Modi even labelling the BSP as “Behenji Sampatti Party” in his public meetings.
Ms. Mayawati is yet to react to the I-T Department’s latest action.
