NEW DELHI: The Election Commission, acting on the basis of a report from the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) pointing out the prima facie role of public / government officials in unauthorized and unaccounted for cash transactions in Madhya Pradesh during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, has ordered the state electoral chief to file a criminal case against 3 IPS agents and one state police officer, “for violations of electoral and other laws in force.”
EC, after deliberating on the CBDT report dated October 28, 2020 on its search operations in Madhya Pradesh and its findings on the extensive use of unaccounted for cash during the 2019 general elections in the state, requested that it be File a criminal complaint with the Economic Crimes Wing. against Sushovan Banerjee (IPS: batch of 1989), Sanjay mane (IPS: batch 1989); V Madhu Kumar (IPS: 1991 batch); and Arun Mishra (Madhya Pradesh police). He also directed the Union The Home Secretary should initiate appropriate departmental action against All India Services officers while seeking similar action from the Madhya Pradesh Chief Secretary against the State Police Officer.
According to the CBDT report, there is an alleged contribution of Rs 25 lakh mentioned against Banerjee’s name in a file related to the Lok Sabha survey and also in Prateek Joshi’s diary and WhatsApp messages, who was among the people raided. by the Income Tax department in Madhya Pradesh in April last year. The raids were carried out at 52 locations, including those linked to aides to the then chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. Kamal Nathincluding your former special service office (OSD) Praveen kakkar, adviser Rajendra miglani and nephew Ratul Puri.
A contribution of Rs 30 lakh is mentioned against Mane’s name in the LS file and Prateek Joshi’s diary. Another entry of Rs 5 lakh was also allegedly found by CBDT in another file. The CBDT findings also point to an alleged Rs 7.5 crore payment entered into Prateek’s diary and when the aforementioned number was verified it was found to be from Mishra, an MP police officer stationed at Bhopal like SP, economic offensive wing.
A Rs 12.50 crore payment and a Rs 25 lakh receipt are allegedly also recorded in the same journal under the name ‘VMB’ on March 28, 2019, and when the mentioned number was verified by CBDT, it was found to be V Madhu Kumar, an IPS officer stationed in Bhopal. The transaction is also corroborated in Prateek’s WhatsApp messages to Lalit Challani.
“These entities / individuals are reported to have participated in unauthorized and unaccounted for cash contributions to individuals on behalf of a certain political party, which was reported to have been corroborated during searches against individuals by the income tax department under Section 132 of the Income Tax Act of 1961 The report (CBDT) specifically mentions cases of prima facie participation / public / government nexus. servants in unauthorized / unaccounted for cash transactions, “EC said in a press release Wednesday.
While the EC did not name the party, it has been widely reported that the CBDT report refers to the Congress party.
CBDT had said in a statement on April 8 last year that tax detectives recovered 14.6 million rupees in “unaccounted for” cash and seized diaries and computer files of suspicious payments after the raids.
He said the department detected a suspected Rs 20 million cash trail allegedly transferred to the “headquarters of a major political party in Delhi” from the residence of a senior official on Tughlaq Road, New Delhi.
“Searches in Madhya Pradesh have detected a widespread and well-organized uproar of unaccounted for cash collection of approximately Rs 281 million through various people in different walks of life, including business, politics and public service,” said.
While the CBDT had not identified the political party or top official, Nath had previously said that the action against his aides was politically motivated.
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