Kochi I-T unit told to probe charges against ex-CJ's kin

KOCHI: The Central Board of Direct Taxes has asked Income Tax officials in Kochi to probe allegations of disproportionate assets against former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan's relatives.
A couple of days ago, the home ministry had asked the CBDT to probe the allegations. "We have received a letter from the CBDT to conduct the probe. We hope we will get about a month and a half to present our findings," an income tax official told TOI on Tuesday.
Kochi's I-T unit had earlier conducted a survey of some of the land deals of Justice Balakrishnan's kin following allegations of under-reporting of their prices.
During the survey, director general (investigations) of the I-T unit, E T Lukose, had said there were indications to support charges that some of Justice Balakrishnan's kin had black money. On completion of the survey, a report was submitted to the I-T commissioner. The content of the report has not been made public yet.
Lukose is currently on leave. "Mr Lukose is expected to be back early next week. We will be able to talk about the survey findings only after that," the I-T official said.
I-T officials had earlier turned down a Kochi RTI activist's plea to disclose details of I-T returns filed by Justice Balakrishnan who had objected to it. Later, Justice Balakrishnan disclosed his assets and liabilities for 2009 and 2010, but did not provide information for 2007 and 2008.
Several jurists, including former Chief Justice of India J S Verma and former Supreme Court judge Justice V R Krishna Iyer, had demanded that Justice Balakrishnan should step down from the post of National Human Rights Commission chairman and face an independent enquiry on the allegations against him and his relatives.