I-T dept summons Cong’s Ahmed Patel

Faces questions in tax evasion probe linked to Cong funding

New Delhi: The income-tax Department has summoned senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel in connection with a tax evasion probe linked to monetary transactions of the party, officials said on Friday. Mr Patel has been sent a fresh notice to appear in person in his capacity as the treasurer.

New Delhi, March 6: The Income Tax Department has summoned senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel in connection with a tax evasion probe linked to monetary transactions of the party, officials said on Friday.

They said Patel has been sent a fresh notice to appear in person in his capacity as the treasurer of the Congress. There was no immediate reaction from Patel to the fresh summons.

Mr Patel, also a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat, had informed the department that he was unwell when the first summons were sent to him in February. He is now supposed to appear before the department early next month.

The officials said the department wants to question Mr Patel and understand the income, donations and expenses of the Congress and confront him with documents, related to the party’s purported funding, seized after searches last year at various locations in Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. It suspects irregularities in these transactions

Ahmed Patel and has also grilled about a dozen Congress office-bearers in the past.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes, which makes policy for the IT Department, had said in a statement in November last year that the raids were conducted at 42 locations including in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Erode to unearth a large tax evasion nexus.

The searches were on a group of people issuing bogus bills and conducting alleged hawala transactions, it had said.

These raids are said to be linked to probe in this case. Raids conducted by the taxman at 52 locations in Madhya Pradesh, including at the premises of chief minister Kamal Nath’s aides, last year have also led to the recovery of certain “documents and evidence” which form the basis of this case.