I-T raids in benami land deal case linked to Lalu Prasad

New Delhi, May 16 :The Income Tax department on Tuesday conducted raids and surveys on at least 22 locations in Delhi and adjoining areas on charges of alleged benami deals worth Rs 1,000 crore linked to RJD chief Lalu Prasad and others.
Officials said the department began raiding the premises of some prominent businessmen and real estate agents in Delhi, Gurugram, Rewari and a few other places since early morning.
The searches are also being conducted on the premises of the son of RJD MP PC Gupta and a few other businessmen.
While raids are being conducted at a dozen locations, 10 other official premises are being surveyed by the I-T department, they said.
“People and businessmen connected to the land deal, involving Lalu Prasad and his family, are being searched. There are allegations of benami deals worth about Rs 1,000 crore and subsequent tax evasion,” a senior official said.
A team of about 100 tax department officials and police personnel are conducting the raids, they said.The BJP had last week accused Prasad, his MP-daughter Misa Bharti and his two sons, both Bihar government ministers, of being involved in corrupt land deals worth over Rs 1,000 crore, and asked the central government to probe one such transaction in Delhi.
Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had alleged that these transactions were a case of “quid pro quo” as they dated back to the period when Lalu Prasad was the railway minister, and dared Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to take action against him.