IT Dept unearthed Rs 30 cr from premises of MP CM Kamal Nath's aides

The Income Tax Department on Wednesday said it unearthed unaccounted cash worth Rs 30 crore from the premises of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath's Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Praveen Kakkar, nephew Ratul Puri and associated companies. Search operations which had started on April 7 at as many as 52 locations including Delhi NCR, Bhopal, Indore and Goa are continuing and are likely to conclude within two to three days, confirmed the Income Tax (IT) officials.

On April 7 morning, I-T officials carried out raids at the residences of Praveen Kakkar, in Indore and former advisor R K Miglani in Delhi, on charges of alleged tax evasion. Praveen Kakkar's son Salil Kakkar was picked up on April 8 by the I-T sleuths for interrogation, while I-T raids continued at various locations across the country including the residence of Ashwin Sharma, an associate of Praveen Kakkar, who had got most of his companies registered in the name of his son Salil.

Apart from Kakkar, the I-T officials had 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 residential premises of Prateek Joshi in Bhopal.

(With inputs from agencies.)