2019 cash seizure: EOW to search for evidence in MP

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh’s Economic Offences Wing registered a preliminary enquiry following a letter by the general administration department (GAD) about the “use of unaccounted cash” by a political party in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, which was unearthed in income tax raids in April that year. The PE was registered on Thursday to decide whether there’s enough evidence to register a regular case/FIR in compliance with the Election Commission of India’s recommendation to file criminal cases against “those named in the CBDT report” on the use of unaccounted cash in the 2019 polls, official sources told this newspaper. The state had a Congress government headed by Kamal Nath then.

The GAD letter was enclosed with the 904-page report by the Central Board of Direct Taxes and the ECI letter recommending action against those named in the report. The names included those of three IPS officers and a state police service officer. The ECI’s letter along with the CBDT report was forwarded to the government in the third week of December by the state’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO). According to sources, the CBDT report contained over 60 other names, including some former and present MLAs, many of whom had switched their political loyalties in March 2020.

The names of the four police officers and politicians were found in documents seized during the I-T searches at the premises of close aides and associates of then CM Kamal Nath in Bhopal, Indore, Goa and the National Capital Region.As per sources, “The report hints about the role of several individuals in the widespread and organised racket of collection and transaction of unaccounted cash totaling around `281 crore during the last Lok Sabha polls.”

Summons to top babus for January 5
The timing of PE assumes significance in the backdrop of the ECI summoning chief secretary Iqbal Singh Bais and additional chief secretary Rajesh Rajora on January 5 in connection with an action taken report in the matter