The Income Tax (I-T) department on Tuesday raided the residence and office of Devendra Ahuja alias Dev, promoter of Centurion Bank and MD of 20th Century Finance company. Ahuja is also the father-in-law of film actor Bobby Deol. I-T officials have recovered documents which show the 74-year-old had transferred a major part of his property to his daughter Tanya, wife of Bobby Deol, following which the officials recorded Tanya’s statement on the matter.
On Tuesday morning, a team of I-T sleuths headed by additional director Ratina Swamy raided Dev’s residence at NCPA Apartment, behind Trident Hotel, Nariman Point and his office at Raheja Centre, Nariman Point.
On February 15, 2010 the I-T department had raided the premises of a construction company during which they recovered several documents which said Dev had granted a huge loan to this company at a much higher rate than what he put down in on paper for income tax calculations. Apart from this, sleuths had recovered several other documents from his residence, one of which reflects that he had also been interrogated by CBI in the Ketan Parekh share scam of 2001. Dev is believed to have granted a loan to the said share broker in the past.
Another document shows that last year in July, I-T had intercepted Dev at Sahar airport. It was after an informer by the name of Deepak Bajaj tipped off the department that Dev had invested lot of money abroad and was clandestinely carrying some investment documents with him.
When contacted VP Gaur, director general of income tax, denied that his department had raided actor Dharmendra and Bobby Deol’s residence. “The I-T officials have only recorded a statement from Tanya Deol, wife of Bobby Deol,” he said.
