Income Tax Department is conducting searches at the premises of perfume businessman and Samajwadi Party (SP) MLC Pushpraj Jain and one other perfume trader tax evasion, sources said on Friday. Pushpraj Jain alias Pampi Jain is the Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) of Uttar Pradesh and is linked to Samajwadi Party. The searches are being conducted at around eight premises including Kanpur, Kannauj, Bombay and Surat linked to two businessmen, sources told ANI. “One more place in Tamil Nadu’s Dindigul is also being searched,” the sources said. Jain had launched the ‘Samajwadi Attar’ last month in the presence of SP president Akhilesh Yadav ahead of the 2022 UP assembly elections.
Income tax sleuths started search operation early this morning. Sources further said that the department has credible intelligence of tax evasion by the companies owned by Pushpraj Jain and the other businessman who is also a promoter of a perfume company. The IT department through its multiple sources has got credible intelligence of fake bills and receipts by the companies who are linked to the parties where searches are going on.
Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party hit out at the BJP and accused the ruling party of misusing central agencies in the run-up to the assembly polls. “After the huge failure of the last time, this time BJP’s close associate IT has finally raided SP MLC Pushpraj Jain and other perfume traders of Kannauj. Open misuse of central agencies by scared BJP is common in Uttar Pradesh elections. People are watching everything. They will answer by vote,” said SP in a tweet.
