The Income Tax department on Friday raided different locations in Jharkhand in connection with two Congress MLAs Jaimangal Singh and Pradeep Yadav, besides those related to coal traders and businessmen.
According to the sources, the I-T sleuths raided several locations early morning on Friday related to Singh and Yadav in Ranchi, Bermo, Patna and Godda.
Raids were also conducted at other locations related to coal traders and businessmen in Chaibasa and Jamshedpur.
Singh is a legislator from Bermo and the son of Congress veteran and former minister Rajendra Singh. He had earlier filed a complaint against the three Congress party legislators who were arrested from Kolkata with cash on July 30 this year for allegedly trying to topple chief minister Hemant Soren’s government in collusion with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Whereas, Pradeep Yadav is a five-term legislator from Poraiyahat and a former Lok Sabha member from Godda. Yadav was elected on Babulal Marandi-led JVM(P) ticket in 2019 but joined Congress after Babulal merged his party with the BJP.
Speaking to the media from inside his official residence in Ranchi, Singh said he does not own any disproportionate assets and is being targeted for being an opponent of the BJP.
“I-T is conducting raids at my premises in Ranchi, Bermo and Patna because I had dared to deflate BJP’s ‘Operation Lotus’ in Jharkhand. The raid is being done to pressurise me to switch sides. I heard they also raided the residence of Pradeep Yadav minutes before they came to my place. Whoever is not with the BJP will become their target,” said Singh.
Singh further alleged that one of the cars used by the I-T sleuths to reach his residence in Bermo had a BJP sticker pasted on its front glass. “The sticker was later removed by a person who was wearing a BJP stoll. Later that car was taken away. This is a matter of investigation,” said Singh.
The issue was also raised by CM Soren in his speech at a state government function in Daloonganh during which he took a dig at the BJP and the central agencies.
“The I-T officers conduct raids in BJP vehicles and then give us lectures on morality. They should die of shame. They are robbing the mandate of people using the central agencies as cover,” said Soren.
When asked about the allegation at a press conference, BJP legislature party leader Babulal Marandi refused to speak on the issue saying only I-T officials could speak on the issue.
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