Income Tax Dept attaches properties of JMM leaders

The Income Tax authorities have provisionally attached assets worth over Rs 30 million belonging to four Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leaders charged with accepting bribes running into millions of rupees to vote in favour of the P V Narasimha Rao government in July 1993.

The assets, totalling 60 in number, include fixed deposits, savings accounts, residential flats, plots, vehicles, and other expensive household goods and are in the names of sitting member of Parliament Shibhu Soren, former members of Parliament Shailendra Mahto, Suraj Mandal and Simon Marandi, and various members of their families.

In an affidavit submitted to the Delhi high court last week, Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax Kamlesh C Varshney stated that the department had also issued notice under Section 158-BC to the JMM leaders earlier this month. The notice served on January 8 pertains to block assessment of their income for the past few years.

The assets of the four JMM leaders in Delhi as well as Bihar have been provisionally attached under Section 281-B of the Income Tax Act pending the re-assessment of their income for the years 1986-87 onwards.

The four have been chargesheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation under the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly receiving illegal gratification to vote in favour of the Rao government during a vote of no-confidence in July 1993. A total of 21 people have been chargesheeted by the CBI in the JMM payoffs case, including Narasimha Rao.

According to the 17-page affidavit submitted by senior standing counsel R D Jolly to a division bench consisting of Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice D K Jain, the attached assets include a fixed deposit receipt worth R 3 million in the Punjab National Bank, Naroji Nagar branch, New Delhi, in the name of all four leaders and a joint savings account in the same bank with a balance of over Rs 500,000.

The department has also attached several other fixed deposit receipts (FDR) and savings bank accounts in the individual names of the four JMM leaders. These include an FDR worth over Rs 2.2 million in Mahto and his wife Abha Mahto's name in the Punjab National Bank, Naroji Nagar, and an account in the Parliament House branch of the State Bank of India in the name of Shibhu Soren, with a balance of over Rs 155,000.

Another FDR in the name of Hemant Soren and Shibhu Soren worth Rs 500,000 has been attached in PNB, Naroji Nagar.

Several accounts in the name of Suraj Mandal and his family members have also been attached. These include an account in PNB, Naroji Nagar, with a balance of Rs 5.212 million, an account in the State Bank of India, Karmatar, Bihar (Rs 250,000), another in SBI, Godda, Bihar (Rs 350,000) and one in the SBI branch of Parliament House (Rs 840,000). Another joint account in the name of Suraj Mandal, Sobha Mandal, Rajendra Kumar, and Jyoti Kumari in SBI, Godda, with a balance of Rs 427,000, has also been attached.

Two accounts in the name of Shailendra Mahto in SBI, Parliament Annexe, with a balance of Rs 6,732 and another in PNB, Naroji Nagar, (Rs 5,279) have been attached.

The Income Tax Department has also attached two flats in the name of Simon Marandi and his relative Sushila Hansda in Shalimar Apartments, New Delhi, and one flat each in the name of Shibhu Soren and Shobha Mandal in the same apartments.

Besides, a house in Jamshedpur in the name of Shailendra Mahto and a flat in the name of his wife Abha Mahto in Rohini, Delhi, have also been attached.

Land plots owned by the JMM leaders and their close relatives have also been attached. These include land in the name of Shibhu Soren in Bokaro district, a residential plot of 180 square metres in her name in Vasundhara, Ghaziabad, and three 180 square metre plots in the name of Soren's sons Durga Prasad and Hemant and brother Lalu Soren at Vasundhara.

A double-storey building constructed on ancestral land in Hazaribagh district in the name of Shibhu Soren has also been attached.

The affidavit stated that the details of certain other properties in Bihar were being ascertained through the state unit of the Income Tax Department and the CBI. Once the information is ascertained, their attachment would also be considered.

Huge investments made by the four leaders in Kisan Vikas Patra, UTI schemes, and private investments companies have also been attached, the department added.

A Maruti Gypsy in the name of Suraj Mandal, an Ambassador Nova car in the name of Simon Marandi, a Mahendra Armada jeep owned by Jesudas Marandi, a Maruti 800 car, an Ambassador car, and a jeep in the name of Shailendra Mahto, a Maruti Gypsy in the name of Shibhu Soren and a diesel-operated car in the name of Durga Soren have also been attached.

A US-made rifle and a 1.32 bore Erma revolver in the name of Durga Soren and Shibhu Soren have also been attached.

The attachment orders have been sent to the JMM leaders and the banks concerned, the department added.

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