Political games on as I-T raids bite BJP leader

The brouhaha over the Commonwealth Games scandals took a sharp political turn on Tuesday with the income tax (I-T) department conducting raids at several establishments connected to senior BJP leader Sudhanshu Mittal, and party president Nitin Gadkari seeking to drag in the prime minister’s office into the
controversy.

Earlier in the day, three senior members of the organising committee (OC) were served notices under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema) and asked to cooperate with the investigations. The development coincided with simultaneous raids carried out by different enforcement agencies, including the I-T department, against Mittal.

More than 200 I-T officials conducted the multi-city raids and targeted 30 places, including premises in Chandigarh and Ludhiana. Mittal was on the board of at least two companies which were awarded questionable contracts for the Games.

The probe against Mittal and his nephew Vinay is in connection with the supply of sports equipment, especially treadmills, to the OC. I-T sources said both are connected to one PICO International and Deepali Designs, which was awarded dubious contracts.

There are allegations of tax evasion through fake invoicing against the accused in this case.

Sudhanshu Mittal, considered to be a close associate of senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh, is alleged to have taken over the reins of the two companies in February this year after which massive contracts were awarded to them.

Raids were also reportedly conducted at the residence of CWG OC member Harish Sharma.

Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) resumed proceedings under Fema. It had started the process before the beginning of the Games, but the probe had to be stalled as it was drawing adverse publicity and affecting country’s image.

The ED probe started in August after British authorities referred a matter relating to a little known London firm AM Films to the Indian high commission. Huge sums of money were transferred to this firm by the OC through the Royal Bank of Scotland in violation of the Reserve Bank guidelines during the Queens Baton relay function in London in 2009.

Other firms whose names have cropped up during IT investigations include GL Litmus and Meroform, Comfort Net and Nussli India, and ESG Arena and D-Art furniture.