I-T department issues final attachment order to Misa Bharti and husband in benami assets case

NEW DELHI: The Income Tax Department on Monday issued a final attachment order against RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's daughter Misa Bharti and her husband Shailesh Kumar in connection to a benami assets case.
The order provisonally attaches about a dozen plots and buildings in Delhi and Bihar, registered under the name of a firm allegedly involved in the case - AB Exports Private Limited - under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 2016.The department alleges that Bharti, her husband and other members of the Yadav family are "beneficiaries" of this firm.
The I-T Department is probing how shell companies were used by Lalu Prasad and his family to buy expensive properties in Delhi and Patna. It has attached about a dozen plots and buildings in Delhi and Bihar including a farmhouse and land in the Palam Vihar area, a building in the upmarket New Friends Colony area of south Delhi, nine plots on a 256.75 decimal land area in Patna's Phulwari Sharif area, where a shopping mall was being constructed, among a few others in the same area.
These alleged benami assets, with an original "deed" value of about Rs 9.32 crore, are estimated to have a current market value of Rs 170-180 crore, the taxman said.
Last week, the Enforcement Directorate had attached the Palam Vihar farmhouse in Delhi, allegedly bought from the money raised through a shell company M/s Mishail Packers and Printers Pvt Ltd, in a money laundering case against Bharti. The former Bihar chief minister's daughter and son-in-law are alleged to have been directors of this firm in the past.
The agency said laundered money amounting to Rs 1.2 crore was used to purchase the farmhouse in 2008-09.
In July, raids were conducted at several properties owned by Bharti and her husband, as well as M/s Mishail Packers and Printers Pvt Ltd. The searches are connected to a money laundering probe being conducted by the ED against two bothers, Surendra Kumar Jain and Virendra Jain, and others who are alleged to have laundered several crore rupees using shell companies.
The Jain brothers were arrested by the ED under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
(With inputs from PTI)