I-T dept conducts raids on assets of 4 UP bureaucrats
NOIDA: The income tax (I-T) department conducted raids on Wednesday at properties of four bureaucrats in Uttar Pradesh, including two IAS officers, over complaints that they accumulated wealth beyond their known sources of income, officials said.
A team of around 100 from the I-T office and UP police were involved in the search operations at various properties linked to Vimal Kumar Sharma, the additional chief executive officer of the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority, and his wife Mamta Sharma, who is the regional transport officer (RTO) in Meerut.
I-T sleuths raided Sharma’s properties located in Noida’s Sector 50, Mainpuri’s Chhota Bazar area, Lucknow and Meerut among other cities, I-T department officials said.
Sharma was the district magistrate of Ghaziabad before the then CM Akhilesh Yadav’s government appointed him as the ACEO of the Greater Noida authority.
“We have received many complaints of accumulation of disproportionate assets by many IAS and PCS officials working in UP. We begin search operations as and when we get evidence of disproportionate assets against anyone ,” an official said.
The department also raided properties linked to two other officials — IAS officer Hriday Shankar Tewari, and the special secretary for prisons SK Singh.
The department is likely to conduct search operations at benami properties linked to other UP officials as well.
“Many people have filed complaints against tehsildars and other officials, working at the Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway authority. We are gathering evidence and doing preparations to conduct raid those whom genuine complaints are filed,” the official said.