Lalu Yadav's Daughter To be Quizzed Over 'Proxy' Properties

Lalu Prasad Yadav’s daughter Misa Bharti will be questioned by Income Tax officials because of alleged proxy properties.

Officials are finding out whether Bharti and her husband Shailesh have bought high worth properties at low prices through shell companies. It is alleged that Bharti and her husband have no declared ownership of these properties.

The pair bought properties through bogus firms. The IT department is investigating who gave money to their firms and why.

BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi has accused Bharti of buying a farmhouse in Delhi’s Bijwasan area at a cheaper price than what it is worth when her father was a Union minister. He says that they used the firm, MS Mishail Packers and Printers Limited, to enter into benami deals.

Last month, a chartered accountant, Rajesh Aggarwal, was arrested for money laundering. The IT Department believes that Bharti was one of the people that he laundered money for. Officials had raided nearly 20 properties last month to look for evidence of ‘benami’ land deals worth Rs 1,000 crore, involving Lalu Prasad Yadav.

The politician has said that the BJP and RSS are trying to pressurise him.

“Our companies are in public domain, in guidelines of income tax. The IT department has all the details about my properties. Allegations of benami deals are a conspiracy to defame me,” he said. 

The Modi government has detected around 1,200 shell companies in the last three years that have been used to launder over Rs 13,000 crore.

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Picture Credit: OneIndia