Madhya Pradesh: 150 Tax Officials Pose As COVID Warriors, Recover Properties Worth Crores

A coordinated raid was conducted on Thursday across 20 premises of two major builder and realtor groups by 150 Income Tax officials from Madhya Pradesh's I-T department.

I-T officials along with Special Armed Forces (SAF) police personnel arrived at the premises at 5:30 am, posing as COVID-19 warriors, in vehicles bearing stickers that read: "Government of Madhya Pradesh, Health Department COVID-19 team welcomes you".

The raids were carried out on properties in Bhopal and the Sehore district.

According to the NDTV report, documents and details of about 100 immovable properties were recovered. The value of the properties, including two cricket grounds, is estimated to run into hundreds of crores. Cash worth Rs 1 crore was also seized.

Raghvendra Singh Tomar, head of one of the two business groups was also raided. It was found that Tomar has connections with a top BJP leader, who is also currently serving a cabinet minister in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government and has significant involvement in the acquisition of illegal properties.

Speaking on the raid conducted, Congress spokesperson of the state, Narendra Saluja said that this was nothing but a meagre move to limit the rising stature of a cabinet minister. "Recently the same minister publicly admitted Raghvendra Singh Tomar was like his younger brother. Now the BJP needs to clarify that minister's relations with Mr Tomar," he tweeted.

Retaliating to Saluja's comment, BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said the department was doing their job as per the law, but the opposition is throwing false allegations just to defame BJP politicians.

Sources told the media that the raid conducted could further lead to links with bureaucrats, politicians and people from the police department involved.

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