Anand Sharma lashes BJP over carrying raids, claims of misusing investigative agencies

Congress leader Anand Sharma on Sunday hit out at the BJP alleging that there was no Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate (ED) for the ruling party. "Investigative agencies are being misused. All this is happening during election time. Has any agency gone to the BJP office to investigate how crores of money are being spent by them? There's no CBI, Income Tax and ED for them," he said here while speaking to ANI.

Earlier in the day, Income Tax officials carried out raids at the residences of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath's private secretary, Praveen Kakkar, in Indore and former advisor R K Miglani in Delhi, on charges of alleged tax evasion.Kakkar is Chief Minister Kamal Nath's Officer on Special Duty (OSD). At around 3 am, a team of over 15 officers began searching Praveen Kakkar's house situated in Vijaynagar, sources said. Apart from Kakkar, the I-T officials have also raided the offices of Hindustan Power Projects Pvt Ltd, Amira Group, and Moser Bayer.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister's nephew Ratul Puri is the chairman of Hindustan Power Projects Pvt Ltd. A large amount of cash was recovered during the raid at the residential premises of Prateek Joshi in Bhopal.

More than 300 I-T officials were involved in conducting the raids, sources said.

(With inputs from agencies.)