BSP(Bahujan Samaj Party) Chief Mayawati’s former secretary, Netram was raided by the IT(Income Tax) Officials over alleged tax evasions amounting to a mammoth Rs.100 crore.
The IT raids are still underway at 12 different locations in Lucknow and Delhi.
The raids were initiated in the morning and are likely to continue till the evening.
An Income Tax office source told NDTV that “Netram has amassed wealth and evaded tax worth hundreds of crores, raids are being conducted to unearth the alleged tax evasion. The raids started in the morning and expected to go on till late in the evening”
Netram was the Principle Secretary to Mayawati for 5 years, during Mayawati’s tenure as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh between 2007 and 2012.
He is a retired IAS(Indian Administrative Service) officer.
Netram held key positions like Principal Secretary in the Department of Agriculture.
He also headed the Excise, Sugarcane, Food and Civil supplies department.
Later, in Uttar Pradesh when Akhilesh Yadav became the Chief Minister in 2012, Netram was moved to less significant posts.
The Former IAS officer, Netram, retired in 2014 as the Director General of the Academy of Administration and Management.
Earlier in the month of January, giant statues of elephants and BSP icons, constructed during Mayawati’s rule in Uttar Pradesh, came under the scrutiny of the Enforcement Directorate(ED).
The probe agency had raided half a dozen places in state capital Lucknow in connection to the matter.
The raids followed the suit, after the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) initiated an inquiry into the role of Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati’s alliance partner in Uttar Pradesh for the General Elections 2019, in an alleged illegal mining case.
Also, both the leaders, both former Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, have accused the ruling BJP at the centre of using investigative agencies to target political rivals and punish the opposition.
Mayawati said,”Petty politics and political conspiracy are not new for the BJP. The countrymen have understood it and they will teach the BJP a lesson in the Lok Sabha polls.”