I-T recovers Rs 11 cr from Trinamool MLA's house, factory

Kolkata, Jan 12 (IANS) Following a marathon raid and search operations since January 11 afternoon that lasted till early Thursday morning, the Income Tax department has recovered Rs 11 crore from the residence, factory and rice mill of Jakir Hossain, the Trinamool Congress legislator from Jangipur constituency in Murshidabad district of West Bengal.

The Income Tax department sources said that of the Rs 15 crore, Rs 9 crore recovered from his residence alone, while the remaining Rs 2 crore were recovered from a Bidi (local Indian smoking stick) factory and a rice mill owned by Hossain, a two- time Trinamool Congress MLA and also a former member of the West Bengal cabinet.

The Income Tax department sleuths conducted the marathon raid search operations accompanied by the central armed forces personnel. Although refusing to make any comment on the cash recovery, Hossain raised objections in the manner in which the operations were conducted.

"I have no objection to them coming to my premises. But the mode of operations could have been different. They were escorted by the armed forces personnel. I am not a branded criminal. I am a businessman as well as an elected public representative. This is nothing but harassing me and malign my image in public. I have been a regular and honest tax-payer for the last 23 years," Hossain said.

Meanwhile, besides the huge cash the Income Tax department had also seized several paper and electronic documents from the places that they raided. They have also informed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) regarding the cash recovery.

Meanwhile, political slugfest has started over the development.

BJP state spokesperson in West Bengal, Samik Bhattacharya said that unaccounted cash recovery from the residence of Trinamool Congress leaders in West Bengal is not a new feature. "Previously we have witnessed similar cash recovery from the residence of a close aide of former West Bengal education minister, Partha Chatterjee in relation to the multi- crore teachers' recruitment scam. The entire ruling party in West Bengal is submerged in neck- dip corruption," he said.

Trinamool Congress's Rajya Sabha member, Dr Santanu Sen, claimed that the central agencies are deliberately targeting the Trinamool Congress leaders isolating them. "Had similar raid and search operations been conducted at the residences of the state BJP leaders, unaccounted money of much higher volumes would have been recovered," Sen said.