Uttar Pradesh: IT dept conduct raids at premises of two Kannauj-based perfume traders

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman pointed fingers at the Samajwadi Party, while SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said Income Tax, ED and CBI are “alliance partners” of the BJP in poll-bound states. The I-T searches came hours before Akhilesh was scheduled to address a press conference in Kannauj.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Pawan Trivedi, who heads the Attar and Perfumers Association in Kannauj, said: “I have come to know that the Income Tax department has conducted raids at the premises of Samajwadi Party MLC Pushpraj Jain and another perfume leader Fauzan Malik.”

Police sources in Kannauj said a team of tax officials reached the residence of Pushpraj Jain at Jain street in Kannauj and his factory located nearby.

Sources said Malik’s residence and factory are located in the same building in the Mandai area near Jain street.

“Fauzan runs the factory from the ground floor of his house. His unit is said to be one of the oldest perfume manufacturing firms in Kannauj. He has units in Lucknow and Mumbai, too,” said a local perfume trader, who did not wish to be identified.

When contacted, SP’s Kannauj district president Kaleem Khan said Malik did not have any link with political parties. Local police said they had no knowledge of the outcome of the raids. Pushpraj Jain was not available for comment.

The Indian Express had reported on December 29 that Pushpraj Jain also owns a petrol pump and a cold storage unit, earns agricultural income, and has a house and an office in Mumbai.

The SP MLC’s name emerged in the limelight after Akhilesh referred to the raids on Peeyush Jain’s premises last week and remarked that the “wrong Jain” was raided by Central authorities. The SP’s Jain, he said, is Pushpraj whose latest perfume he had launched last month, calling it the “Samajwadi ittra”.

According to GST authorities, unaccounted cash of over Rs 194 crore and 23 kg of gold were recovered in the search operation at properties allegedly linked to Peeyush Jain in Kanpur and Kannauj.

The latest raids, meanwhile, triggered heated political reactions.

Addressing a public gathering in Ayodhya, Amit Shah said: “Today, raids are going on, so why is there trouble in their stomach… Bhai Akhilesh, aapko kya takleef hai (Akhilesh brother, what’s bothering you)?”

Referring to the raids on Peeyush Jain, and responding to allegations from SP that he was linked to the BJP, Sitharaman said the cash recovery is “not BJP money”.

She claimed that the recovery has “shaken” Akhilesh who “should have condemned” the findings but is defending the businessman. “He should not be raising doubts on the professionalism of enforcement agencies. The height of the wall is the height of the cash (recovered). It has been proved,” she said.

“How do they know whose money it is? Are they partners? Only if you are running a business in partnership with someone, would you know where your money or your partner’s money is? I am saying, this is not BJP money. The one who has been caught red-handed, maybe he is their partner or friend, maybe that’s why the former chief minister is shaken,” she said.

Asked about the raids being conducted ahead of the assembly elections, Sitharaman said that “a thief is caught only when the theft happens”. “You don’t wait for a ‘muhurat’ to take action,” she said.

Following Friday’s raids, Akhilesh said that while the SP “has made alliance with regional parties, BJP has joined hands with these agencies from Delhi”.

He accused the I-T department of working on the BJP’s directive. “As the elections come closer, more BJP leaders will visit UP and more raids would be conducted,” he said, adding that such raids were conducted earlier too, during the West Bengal elections. “But still, people voted against the BJP,” he said.

(With ENS Economic Bureau)