Income tax raids on Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath’s close aides in Indore, Bhopal and Delhi

INDORE/BHOPAL: A team of income tax officers from Delhi raided the homes and offices of close aides of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath — Praveen Kakkar and RK Miglani — in a countrywide operation spanning 50 locations on Sunday.


Ahead of the

Lok Sabha elections

, the pre-dawn crackdown has triggered a political storm in Madhya Pradesh. While BJP's Kailash Vijavragiya took a dig at Congress, saying, "It is now clear that only thieves have complaints with chowkidars", Congress's Shobha Oza hit back at 'chor chowkidaars'. "It's political vengeance, a futile attempt by BJP to tarnish the image of Congress on the poll-eve. It won't succeed. It's a sign that PM Narendra Modi is rattled by the Congress victories in three assembly elections," she said.

Sources said that crores of rupees have been recovered from the premises. The income tax department is yet to come out with details of the seizure.

The raids began around 3am when tax officers, escorted by CRPF jawans, arrived at the addresses in hired cars. Kakkar's houses in Indore and Bhopal were searched, and so were the homes of Miglani's children in Delhi. Many locations in Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara are also being searched.

State police have no clue about the raids. Local income tax officials said the raids were handled by teams from Delhi and they had little involvement in it.

Kakkar, who took voluntary retirement from police service a few years ago, was Kamal Nath's officer on special duty (OSD) and was brought in by Miglani after Nath became the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. Both Miglani and Kakkar resigned on February 22, just before Lok Sabha polls were announced.

The income tax team knocked on the doors of Kakkar's home in Scheme Number 74, Shalimar Township and two other places around 3am, taking the occupants by surprise. CRPF personnel stood guard as the houses were searched.

According to sources in the income tax department, raids were also carried out at a showroom in Vijay Nagar, and addresses at BCM Heights and Jalsa Garden.

BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya tweeted, "black money worth crores of rupees has been seized from the house of the personal secretary of chief minister Kamal Nath in an

income tax raid

".



Pradesh Congress media in-charge Shobha Oza alleged that BJP is using central agencies to pressurise not only Congress but all other opposition parties ahead of the election. "Do CBI, I-T department and ED see only corruption among opposition leaders? Can't they see corruption in the band of 'chor chowkidaars'? If these raids aren't out of political vengeance, why doesn't I-T raid Amit Shah, Jay Shah, Yedyurappa, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Raman Singh, whose names have cropped up in corruption scandals?" she asked.

Kakkar has a President's medal for excellence in police work. In 2004, he quit the force and joined as OSD to former Union minister and Congress leader Kantilal Bhuria. In 2018, he was made OSD to Kamal Nath when he became the chief minister.