I-T raid was conducted around 1 pm when the team reached the office of a real estate dealer to conduct a 'routine survey' based on a tip-off about some cash changing hands. Uttam Nagar MLA Naresh Balyan has been allegedly linked to this.
New Delhi: In yet another instance of embarrassment for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), its MLA Naresh Baliyan has been detained by the income tax department after its team of officials raided a builder in West Delhi. According to I-T sleuths, Rs 2.65 crore cash has been allegedly linked to the legislator and his associates, sources said.
Uttam Nagar MLA Naresh Balyan, along with a local, a property dealer and two others, have been detained by the I-T officials, who know the source of the cash recovered from them. the I-T sleuths are also trying to ascertain if the recovered cash was “illegal and unaccounted”.
“Balyan has been detained for questioning after it emerged that the cash had purported links with him. The I-T officials are questioning the MLA and others present with him about the source of the money,” a senior official said.
According to sources, the raid was conducted around 1 pm when the I-T team reached the office of a real estate dealer to conduct a “routine survey” based on a tip-off about some cash changing hands.
A survey procedure entails I-T officials visiting only the business premises of the person and not their residential or other locations. Balyan and few other people were found at the spot and were intercepted by the income tax team at the Dwarka office of the builder and they were not allowed to leave the premises. The department has “converted” its limited action of survey into a full-fledged "search and raid operation", the official said.
Naresh Baliyan was earlier arrested by the Delhi Police in 2016 with respect to a case, but was later acquitted by the court. He also faced criticisms for telling people to thrash officers if they don’t work. He said this in a public function after Anshu Prakash had filed a case against various AAP leaders claiming that he was thrashed by AAP MLA at chief minister’s Kejriwal’s house.
(With inputs from PTI)
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