I-T recovers Rs 1.64 crore cash, Mont Blanc pens worth Rs 50L after raids on retired UP IAS officer

NEW DELHI/LUCKNOW: Cash worth over Rs 1.64 crore, Mont Blanc pens of Rs 50 lakh, four luxury SUVs and documents indicating benami assets of Rs 300 crore have been recovered during the I-T Department raids on premises linked to a retired IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, who served in top positions during Mayawati’s chief ministership, officials said Wednesday.

The taxman had swooped down on a dozen premises linked to 1979-batch Indian Administrative Service officer Net Ram after it had “credible inputs” that the former top bureaucrat and his associates have made “accommodation or bogus entries of about Rs 95 crore from Kolkata-based shell firms” in the past, including in the post-demonetisation period.

They said after the over 26-hours long searches, the department has recovered a total of Rs 1.64 crore in cash from three houses in Lucknow and Delhi, while another Rs 50 lakh is believed to be stashed in a bank locker, which will soon be opened.

The officials said the former bureaucrat was “negotiating” for a Lok Sabha ticket from a party and that is when he came under the scanner of the tax department.

Officials also recovered Mont Blanc pens of Rs 50 lakh, four ‘benami’ luxury cars, including a Mercedes and two Fortuners, and documents that indicate illegal assets worth around Rs 225 crore.
(AGENCIES)