‘Tit for tat’ tax raids raise political heat in Padampur

BARGARH/BHUBANESWAR: It was a day of tax raids in the Padampur Assembly segment as the political slugfest between Bharatiya Janata Party and Biju Janata Dal boiled over ahead of the December 5 bypoll.
The day began with income tax raids on three businessmen - all BJD members - and by the evening, the state’s GST wing had swung into action to search 11 business premises reportedly owned by BJP leaders in the small Bargarh town. 

The confrontation took an ugly turn when a GST official was allegedly assaulted by some people in Padampur after he was returning from the raid.  Police were investigating the matter. The whole area is now under the vigil of the security forces. It all started in the morning when I-T officers raided the premises of Md. Sajid, Manabhanjan Sahu and Gajanan Agarwal in Padampur. Sajid and Manabhanjan run a petrol pump together while Gajanan is a rice mill owner. Sources said the three were aides of late BJD leader and MLA Padampur, Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha whose demise necessitated the bypoll. 

The I-T raids triggered a strong reaction from the BJD and hours later, Odisha GST officials got into the act and carried out searches at seven business owners in Bargarh, Padampur, Paikmal and Jharbandh. All of them are associated with BJP. 

The business establishments included a garment shop owned by Padampur BJP Nagar president Sunil Agarwal, jewellery shop owner Om Prakash Agrawal, proprietor of a gas agency Rajesh Sahu and a petrol pump, hardware shop besides drug stores and godowns apparently owned or operated by Gobardhan Agarwal and his kin.

The I-T and subsequent GST raids sparked off a war of words between the two political rivals. Senior BJD leader and former minister Sashi Bhusan Behera said I-T raids ahead of the bypoll has exposed that BJP is apprehensive about the outcome. “The I-T raids could have been conducted anytime. Why conduct it during the bypoll?” he asked. 

‘Tit for tat’ tax raids raise political heat in Padampur ahead of by-election

However, state BJP general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan justified the action. “It is unfortunate some people are opposing the IT raids. Should the investigating agency probing into different crimes wait for the election to be over? The IT department conducts raids as and when it gets confirmed information regarding irregularities,” he added.

Interestingly, IT raids were conducted under CRPF cover while local police had no inkling of it. Padampur sub-divisional police officer BB Bhoi said, “We were informed about the three locations but none of our personnel was called by the IT team.

But for the GST raids, the officials had submitted requisition and forces were deployed accordingly,” he added. Similarly, there were allegations by BJP that partyman Dilip Kumar Senapati was abducted by a BJD MLA from Gothugaon panchayat in Jharbandh. A complaint was lodged with the Jharbandh police station in this regard.