IT Dept seizes Rs 16 cr cash in raids on TMC MLA Jakir Hossain's beedi factories

According to IT sources, officials recovered Rs 1 crore from his residence and Rs 10 crore from his rice/flour mills.

Another Rs 5.5 crore was seized from his two bidi manufacturing units.

The raids were started on Wednesday on about two dozen locations, covering some 'beedi' manufacturing companies and some other businesses in the state capital Kolkata and Murshidabad, and, so far, Rs 16 crore has been recovered.

According to sources, the raids were ordered after receiving inputs that these businesses were allegedly indulging in cash transactions, beyond the record books, resulting in tax evasion.

Sources said the raids are still continuing.

Reacting to the raids, Jakir Hossain said he disapproves of the way the raids were conducted. “I am neither a criminal nor a traitor. I am an MLA of West Bengal from Trinamool led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

“The IT Department did not give us time. They came suddenly. They should have approached us in a civil manner. Their attitude that we should act as they want us to—is not right,” he explained.

Hossain said that he was one of the top taxpayers in the village for the last 23 years. “Having paid my taxes for such a long time, I didn’t expect that the IT Officials would treat us in this way. We have always cooperated with them.”

He further said that the IT officials could come to his offices, but they should come after informing and as per the pre-fixed time.

Mortified over the raids, the TMC MLA said, “This approach has disturbed us. It is unfair if they come just because of my links with the TMC.”

Asked if the raids could be linked to vendetta politics, as the searches happened within 48 hours after BJP’s Nandigram MLA Suvendu Adhikari warned of similar action, Hossain said there was a possibility but being a law-abiding citizen of the country, he didn’t want to see the incident in that light.

“I am a taxpayer, there can be some difference in records…but we have never misbehaved with the tax officials. They should not have come to our village in this way to harass us like this,” Hossain maintained.