MP CM Kamal Nath evades questions after I-T officials raid his close aides, nephew

The I-T department launched searches on at least 50 locations in Madhya Pradesh and Delhi against people linked to Kamal Nath on charges of alleged tax evasion.

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New Delhi: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath chose not to answer any question related to the Income Tax raids conducted on his close aides on Sunday. The I-T Department launched searches on at least 50 locations in Madhya Pradesh and Delhi against people linked to Nath on charges of alleged tax evasion, officials said.

As the media tried to learn about Nath's reaction on the raids, he evaded the question saying he has no clue and is not aware of the situation.

Locations in Indore, Bhopal and Delhi were raided and those being searched included Nath's former Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Pravin Kakkad, former adviser Rajendra Miglani and executives linked to his brother-in-law's firm Moser Bayer and his nephew Ratul Puri's company. Last week, Puri was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the AgustaWestland case.

A team of about 200 I-T department officials and police officers conducted raids around 3 am and some undisclosed cash was recovered, as per the officials.

At Kakkar's home in Indore, the raids were conducted by a team of officials from Delhi. Other places associated with him were also raided. 

Kakkad is a former Madhya Pradesh police officer and was appointed OSD to Nath after he came to power last year. He and Rajendra Miglani resigned from their posts just before the Lok Sabha election were declared.

MP Congress' media cell vice president Bhupendra Gupta, also a former OSD to Nath, blamed the BJP for raids. "The BJP government has been targeting opposition leaders across the country due to political enmity. Due to such act of political vendetta, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister (N Chandrababu Naidu) and DMK leader M K Stalin had to stage protest against the Centre," he said.

Meanwhile, BJP's national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya trained guns at the MP CM and said, "Black money worth crores was recovered during the Income Tax department's raid at the house of private secretary of Kamal Nath. This has made one thing clear that those who are thieves have a complaint against the watchman." 

(With PTI inputs)