The CBI on Wednesday raided 1979 batch income tax commissioner Lov Saxena for allegedly amassing wealth disproportionate to his income. Agency officials claimed that a number of plots and flats were found in the names of Saxena’s family members in Delhi and NCR.
Saxena was earlier in the limelight because of the order he had passed in 2006 as commissioner appeal in Central-1 in New Delhi-giving respite to BSP chief Mayawati. His order overruled the assessing officer who had held that gifts worth crores that Mayawati claimed to have received from supporters were actually acquired by the UP CM using illegal wealth. The I-T department has moved the Delhi HC against Saxena’s ruling which was endorsed by the I-T appellate tribunal.
The CBI claimed that the raid on Saxena had revealed Rs 66 lakh in cash in 10 lockers and houses and plots at Vasant Kunj, Kaushambi, Gurgaon, Bangalore and Kanpur registered in the names of his kin.
Saxena’s order giving relief to Mayawati had been attacked for “legalising illegitimate money acquired in the guise of donations”. Meanwhile, in Meerut, central excise authorities recently raided three rolling mills belonging to BSP MLAs. The two BSP legislators – Shah Nawaz Rana and his uncle Qadir Rana-are being grilled for alleged evasion of Rs 25-crore duty.
