IT sleuths are harassing Gahlot, allege AAP MLAS
UNDER LENS AAP lawmakers say tax officials had been sitting at Gahlot’s house without any activity since Wednesday; IT dept hits back, says minister has not been cooperating
NEWDELHI: A group of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAS have alleged that income-tax authorities were harassing Delhi transport minister Kailash Gahlot and his family since Wednesday when raids were conducted on his house and other properties linked to him.
The lawmakers, after visiting the minister’s Vasant Kunj house on Friday, said I-T sleuths had been sitting there without any activity. “It has been more than two days that the I-T people raided Kailash Gahlot’s flat in Vasant Kunj. But it seems there is some ulterior motive also as now they are just not leaving. This is harassment,” said Nitin Tyagi, AAP lawmaker from Laxmi Nagar. Tyagi visited the minister’s house along with Mehrauli MLA Naresh Yadav and Deoli MLA Prakash Jarwal.
On Wednesday, the incometax department conducted searches on multiple premises linked to Gahlot in connection with a tax evasion case. The action drew sharp reactions from AAP, which said the Centre was trying to “intimidate” its ministers and lawmakers as part of its political vendetta.
“The I-T people raiding @kgahlot are doing no activity since 8 pm last night except having dinner, sleeping and having tea. If the raid work is done, why don’t these people leave? Harassing a whole family?,” asked Tyagi on Twitter.
The MLA’S questioned the ‘overstaying’ of the I-T department officials and said it was hampering the work of the minister.“the raids are generally over within 48 hours. Kailashji has been fighting the office-of-profit case for 20 MLAS, including me, and that is why the BJP is getting nervous about him,” said Naresh Yadav.
They alleged that initially they were not allowed to meet the minister. “First they said we cannot meet him. Then they let us talk to him (Kailash Gahlot) for two minutes. He said his work is being affected and the I-T department officials were sitting idle since last night,” Yadav said.
“When we asked the I-T department officials when would they leave, they said they were waiting for orders from their bosses,” he said
The searches, according to the sources, are being conducted as part of a tax evasion probe against two firms — Brisk Infrastructure and Developers Pvt Ltd and Corporate International Financial Services Limited — operated and owned by the family members of Gahlot.
The income-tax department refuted the allegations and, said Gahlot was not cooperating. “He has not been co-operating with us until Friday . We have wound up the raid,” said an I-T department spokesperson
51,500 NOTICES FOR TAX EVASION
The state trade and taxes department has issued showcause notices to 51,500 tax defaulters since GST was implemented since July 1, 2017.
The department has launched an extensive drive against tax and return defaulters. “Officers have been directed to identify dealers carrying out business activities without registration, physical verification of at least 10% new registrants/tax payers, on the basis of risk assessment, to curb issuance of bogus invoices and taking action against tax payers who show lesser output tax liability,” said VAT commissioner H Rajesh Prasad.