The Income Tax department on Friday raided multiple premises including the residence of Trinamul Congress MLA Debasish Kumar as well as the homes and offices of two other leaders of the party, triggering political tension in the Assembly elections.
The Chief Minister was reacting to a Delhi court discharging Kejriwal and Sisodia in the alleged liquor policy scam and pulling up the CBI for implicating the two leaders without any material evidence.
The minister’s remarks are significant as it is a rare instance of a ruling party leader publicly criticising action by a central agency against an Opposition politician.
The attachment has been carried out under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, through a Provisional Attachment Order.
A massive tax evasion racket has come to light in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, involving the promoters of Indian Frozen Food, a company engaged in the meat trade.
The Income Tax department, under Project Panther, is unearthing benami properties of jailed gangster-turned politician Mukhtar Ansari.
Kalyani got elected as a BJP legislator in the 2021 state Assembly elections but shifted to ruling Trinamul Congress soon after.
'During the course of the survey, the (Income Tax) Department gathered several (pieces of) evidence indicating that tax has not been paid on certain remittances which have not been disclosed as income in India by the foreign entities of the group,'' the Finance Ministry said without directly naming the BBC.
Criticism has been raised in the international media that this is an attack on media freedom, he wrote on Facebook.
Opposition parties called the action 'predictable', 'a sign of panic', and a hint that 'their end is near'. BJP defended the move, asking the BBC, “Why are you scared if you are adhering to the law?”
