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Maya and more mayaMayawati has filed income tax returns for the year 2006-07 and paid Rs 12.5 crore as income tax and Rs 14.7 crore as advance tax in two
instalments. The department is disputing this, claiming she owes more tax. She has filed her return under Delhi central circle. She owns 72 immovable properties in her name; father Prabhu Dayal’s name and brother Raj Kumar, cousin, Tej Singh and sister-in-law Nirmal
Rani. She claims 307 donations from 130 donors.
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New Delhi, May 20
A self-proclaimed friend of the deprived, Mayawati, Uttar Pradesh chief minister, seems to have set a world record when it comes to crowns.
In her declaration to the central income tax authorities, Mayawati has said that she possesses 5000 silver “mukuts”, 787 diamond “mukuts” and 10,000 gold “mukuts”- all gifted to her by avid admirers.
Not content with just crowns for decoration Mayawati, who adorns herself with flashy diamond jewellery, could also put a royal treasure trove to shame. Consider this: Diamond solitaires, including nose-pins, worth a whopping Rs 8.5 crore. Diamond “jadau” jewellery, worth Rs 6 crore.
Interestingly, this was part of her original declaration after which her treasure trove has grown by leaps and bounds, courtesy what she describes “loving gifts from followers,” that she is cannot keep track. “Eventually, I will open a Dalit museum with all these precious things. But, right now we can only give an estimate since gifts are showered every day,” she writes.
Her “followers,” as she describes BSP supporters, buy property for her as well. Take her own estimate of priceless land in Lutyen’s Delhi where she is building twin bungalows. She has informed the IT department that the property is worth Rs 200 crore, while the department contends that the price of a one-acre plot there is worth Rs 200 crore. And Mayawati has 4.7 acres.
Besides, she owns a commercial multi-storey building in Connaught Place, again obligingly gifted by a follower called Ram Parshad, who according to the IT department has an annual income of Rs two lakh. Mayawati claims he took a loan to buy the building for her out of love and loyalty.
Mayawati has filed an income tax return of Rs 88.75 lakh and still magically manages to possess
immovable assets worth over Rs 5 crore for the same year. Tax returns and other documents in the possession of the CBI, accessed exclusively by The Tribune, substantiate this.
Mayawati’s tax returns from April 1, 1995 to August 23, 2003, when she was either chief minister or a member of different legislative bodies, reveal that she filed returns averaging around Rs 90 lakh a year.
Yet investigations revealed that her actual income was estimated to be Rs 1.12 crore and her assets, including palatial property, jewellery and bank accounts, were over Rs 100 crore. These include a multi-acre house in Lutyen’s Delhi, valued at
over Rs 60 crore.
This house was originally purchased as “party headquarters” and later described
as the “private residence of Shrimati Mayawati”.
The bank accounts include Rs 2.27 crore, deposited in the Union Bank of India (account number 9195), at a branch in New Delhi. Another account in the Parliament House branch of SBI had a deposit of Rs 23.45 lakh.
While Mayawati grew rich, her family, including her father, brothers and sister-in law also accumulated wealth. They had bank accounts and fixed deposits in various branches in Greater Noida and Bulandshahar, which ran up to Rs 2.50 crore.
Interestingly, property all over Uttar Pradesh was originally purchased in the name of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) as “party office,” “Karyakarta Kendra” and even “recreation centre.” But later on, the property was mysteriously transferred in the name of Mayawati and family
Mayawati is also extremely fond of diamonds, as CBI sources reveal the bulk of her jewellery in the ceased lockers comprises “diamond solitaires” and “gold crowns”. Her explanation: The “mukuts” and jewellery are gifts and “tokens of affection” from the party faithful.
In her deposition before the CBI she has stated, “My party workers, to convey their affection, give me crowns. At every party meeting and rally I am crowned.”
Sources say that the disproportionate assets case is iron-clad, since Mayawati has already tied herself up in knots trying to explain her vast wealth. Says a senior official, “Even a cursory investigation reveals that she is one of India’s richest politicians. It will be difficult to get away from this one.” Investigations in the case are still continuing.
The writer, an anchor with Zee News, writes regularly for The Tribune
