The Income Tax Department on Wednesday raided multiple premises of a hospital group in Haryana’s Rewari, related to family of Swaraj India chief Yogendra Yadav, recovering about Rs 22 lakh cash, after it was detected that the owners allegedly made cash payments to a Nirav Modi firm for purchasing jewellery, officials said.
Yogendra Yadav, however, alleged that the raid was conducted at his sisters’ hospital-cum-nursing home premises with an intent to “intimidate” and “silence” him as he had launched an agitation for fair crop price for farmers and against liquor shops in that city in Haryana.
The officials said the tax department began the searches at 11 am at the Kalawati Hospital and Kamla Nursing Home in that Haryana town, and the residences of its main partner Dr Gautam Yadav and others.
“A total of three premises are being searched by the department’s sleuths from the investigation wing of Haryana. A team of about 40 tax officials and a contingent of police personnel executed the action,” a senior official said.
It is understood that Gautam Yadav is the nephew of Yogendra Yadav and son of his sister, Dr Neelam Yadav.
Officials said the tax department carried out the action acting on inputs received from a dossier of information from the group of diamond merchant Nirav Modi, absconding from probe in the $2 billion PNB fraud case. It was found that Gautam Yadav allegedly paid Rs 3.25 lakh in cash, out of the total Rs 6.50 lakh, for purchase of jewellery from the diamantaire’s firm.
They added that the searches also covered Dr Narender Singh Yadav and Rs 22 lakh cash was recovered from the residence of the Yadavs’.
“The current cash limit in the hand of a person is Rs 2 lakh and the source of this recovered cash amount of Rs 22 lakh is being probed,” an official said.
When asked about the ITD allegations, Yogendra Yadav said, “The question is whether this money is unaccounted for? I do not know about the accounts of the hospitals.”
The hospital and nursing home were started in the year 1979 and the hospital has about 80 beds and a neo-natal intensive care unit, the Swaraj India chief said.
The Swaraj India chief earlier in the day had taken to Twitter to allege that the Modi government was “targeting” his family through the raid to “intimidate” him.
“About 100+ force from Delhi raided hospitals at 11 am today. All doctors (my sisters, brother in law, nephew) detained in their chambers. Hospital sealed, including ICU for newly born babies. A clear attempt to intimidate. Modiji you can’t silence me,” Yogendra Yadav claimed in a tweet.
The officials, however, rejected his allegations that the raiding teams of the department had sealed the hospital and the ICU, as a few “caesarean-section deliveries” also took place during the time of the searches, which was part of the ‘panchnama’.
They added that all the CCTVs of the searched premises, including the hospitals, were kept operational and they have recorded all the search proceedings that began at 11 am.
Yadav, who started his campaign with a nine-day ‘padyatra’ (march) that ended two days ago, said the place and the timing of the “raid” was to send a message not just to him but also to the many farmers who were fighting for their rights.
“The raid has been done two days after I ended my ‘padyatra’ and two days before the Working Group meeting of the AIKSCC (All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee), which is on July 13. So, the intent is to intimidate and silence us,” Yadav said.
Yadav, national president of Swaraj India, is a member of the Committee’s Working Group.
Earlier in the day, he took to Twitter to also allege that the Narendra Modi-led government was “targeting” his family through the raid.
“Modi regime now targets my family. Two days after my 9-day padyatra in Rewari and launching of agitation for MSP (minimum support price) and against liquor thekas (shops), a massive IT raid is on at the hospital-cum-nursing home of my sisters in Rewari,” he alleged in his tweet.
“Pl(ease) search me, my home, why target my family?” he tweeted.
