Samajwadi Party in trouble ahead of polls? IT raids at MLC Pushpraj Jain, 3 others' premises for tax evasion

By Team Newsable | First Published Dec 31, 2021, 2:38 PM IST

Searches are being carried out at around 50 locations in poll bound UP, the national capital region (NCR), Mumbai and other places, based on specific inputs of tax evasion, sources said.

The Income Tax Department on Friday raided premises of two leading Kannauj-based perfume traders, and some others in Uttar Pradesh as part of a tax evasion investigation. One of the two perfume traders is a Samajwadi Party leader.

Searches are being carried out at around 50 locations in poll bound UP, the national capital region (NCR), Mumbai and other places, based on specific inputs of tax evasion, sources said. The searches are mostly on those who are involved in the business of perfumery. The exact identities of those raided were not confirmed by authorities.

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Pushpraj Jain Pampi is a Member of Legislative Council from Samajwadi Party in UP. He had launched the ‘Samajwadi ittra’ or perfume last month in the presence of SP president Akhilesh Yadav ahead of the 2022 UP assembly elections.

“I have come to know income tax department has conducted a raid at premises of Samajwadi Party MLC Pushpraj Jain “Pampi” and another perfume leader Fauzan Malik (52),” said Pawan Trivedi, president of The Attars and Perfumers Association, Kannauj.

Also read: UP businessman Piyush Jain sent to 14-day judicial custody; all about raid, items seized

The Samajwadi Party claimed through a post on its official Twitter handle that the premises of its MLC Pushpraj alias Pampi Jain in Kannauj have been raided.

It said party chief Akhilesh Yadav had just called a press conference in Kannauj and hence the “BJP government” launched the raids. Yadav had recently launched a perfume called ‘Samajwadi ittra’ prepared by Jain in the run-up to the assembly polls in the state that are expected to be held early next year.

In November this year, Akhilesh launched a perfume called “Samajwadi Sugandh” or “Attar”, which was manufactured by Pushpraj Jain. The perfume had the image of a cycle, the Samajwadi Party’s election symbol, on it and colours of the bottle resembled the party flag colours of olive green and red.

Earlier this month, the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) had raided Kanpur-based perfume trader Piyush Jain and recovered over Rs 197 crore in cash, 23 kg gold and goods worth Rs 6 crore from premises linked to him in Kanpur and Kannauj.

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