M A I N   N E W S

I-T raid at BJP leader’s house
Kumar Rakesh
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 19
On a day of fast-paced developments, Income-Tax department sleuths today swooped on the residences of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and industrialist Sudhanshu Mittal and his nephew Vinay Mittal in connection with the ongoing Commonwealth Games probe. The duo is connected with Deepali consortium, which was awarded the contract for the supply of sports equipment.

Also, the Enforcement Directorate registered a case against the CWG Organising Committee members under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) for their role in alleged illegalities in shelling out 4.5 lakh pounds to a British firm. Besides, the CBI and I-T department officials raided about 30 premises, mostly in the National Capital Region and also in Chandigarh and Ludhiana, mostly of Games’ contractors.

Sudhanshu Mittal, who is considered one of the richest businessmen in Delhi, was once an influential BJP leader who has been steadily sidelined and party president Nitin Gadkari today refused to recognise him when his attention was drawn to raids on his premises. A raid was also conducted at OC member Harish Sharma house, sources said.

Though the CBI and I-T officials declined to share details of the raids, sources said they were very much on cards.

“The CWG had been inviting corruption muck for long and even the Central Vigilance Commission had taken note of that. I think even those facing the allegations were expecting the raids. I can’t say if we have recovered some key evidence as it will take a lot of time to evaluate them and searches are still on,” a CBI official said.