JAIPUR: The Income Tax department on Wednesday conducted search operations at the premises of serving Rajasthan’s minister of state for home and higher education, Rajendra Yadav.
The Income Tax Department conducted simultaneous raids in four states of the country including Delhi, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. According to sources, the department is raiding the minister's house for alleged scam in mid-day meals.
Confirming the raids, Yadav said, that we have nothing to do with the mid-day meals. It is being said that the Income Tax action at the home of a minister close to CM Gehlot is an effort to put pressure on the Gehlot government.
The I-T department conducted searches at more than 50 places of the minister and his relatives on Wednesday morning. A large number of CRPF personnel were also present along with officers of the IT department. The team reached the minister's places in Jaipur and Kotputli at around 5.30 am on Wednesday. Yadav is the MLA from Kotputli town in the Jaipur district.
The department also conducted searches in the Rajasthan Flexible Packing Factory of his relatives here. It is being told that packing bags are made in the factory for mid-day meal supply. Minister Rajendra Yadav is the director of this company and his elder son, Madhur Yadav is the manager of the company. The department has also raided Uttarakhand, Gurgaon including the house of the minister's sons in Jaipur.
In Jaipur, there has been a stir due to raids in the office of Malviya Nagar including the government house of Minister of State Yadav in Civil Lines and his private residence in Bani Park. Sources say that this raid was conducted at the manufacturers, suppliers, their associates, and acquaintances who make mid-day meals.
The income tax raids were done so secretly that even the Rajasthan Police could not get any information about the action. Income tax officers raided the Congress leader's place, taking CRPF personnel along with them.
However, the amount of undisclosed income and assets that have come to the fore in the Income Tax proceedings has not been disclosed yet. On the other hand, no official statement of any leader associated with the raids has come out about the Income Tax raid at the Congress leader's place.
Furious over the raids, Minister Yadav said he and his family are not related to any political funding. He also asserted that if action is taken targeting him and his family, he will fight it.
Yadav said that he quit the business after entering politics; only his children are taking forward the business. Minister Rajendra Yadav said, “We manufacture fertilizers, in which many types of plastic bags are made. At the same time, there are food-related businesses in Uttarakhand too. It will soon be clear that we have nothing to do with political funding in any way.”
But questions are being raised within Congress on the timing of the resumption of income tax raids. This action has been taken at a time when many leaders including CM Gehlot, State Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra, and former deputy CM Sachin Pilot have gone to Kanyakumari to join the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Earlier, after toppling the Congress-Shiv Sena coalition government in Maharashtra, several party leaders including CM Gehlot had indicated that the next target of central agencies would be Rajasthan.
In July 2020, in the midst of the political crisis in the Gehlot government after the revolt of the Sachin Pilot camp, ED and income tax action were taken against many Congress leaders as well as CM Ashok Gehlot's elder brother.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, state Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra, and many other leaders have often accused the central government of misuse of agencies like the ED and CBI rule in the country.