AGENCIES / INDORE
Income Tax sleuths raided the homes of state Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s former Officer on Special Duty Praveen Kakkar in Indore, Bhopal and some other places in connection with an alleged illegal transaction case.
A team of over 15 Income Tax officers from Delhi reached the home of Kakkar in Indore’s Vijay Nagar early this morning and started searching the premises, sources said. They also raided a showroom at the same area and some other properties.
Sources claimed that house of Chief Minister’s former advisor Rajendra Kumar Miglani in Delhi was also raided by IT sleuths.
Both Mr. Kakkad and Mr. Miglani had resigned from their posts just before the Lok Sabha polls were declared.
In Indore, the raids were conducted by a team of officials, who arrived from Delhi, at Mr. Kakkad’s residence in Vijay Nagar area and other places associated with him, sources in the I-T department said.
They said documents seized during the searches were being scrutinised in detail.
Mr. Kakkad, a former Madhya Pradesh police officer, was appointed OSD to Mr. Nath after the Congress-led government came to power in the state last year.
He had earlier served as OSD to former Union minister Kantilal Bhuria during the UPA regime.
Mr. Kakkad’s family is associated with a number of businesses, including hospitality.
The raids are also being conducted against Kolkata-based businessman Paras Mal Lodha, they said.
A team of about 200 I-T department and police officers swooped on these premises at around 3 am and some undisclosed cash has been recovered till now, they said.
The searches are linked to suspected movement of hawala money during the ongoing polls season and tax evasion, they said.
Puri was last week grilled by the Enforcement Directorate in Delhi in connection with the ₹3,6000 AgustaWestland helicopters purchase probe.