BJP 'misusing power' to 'frame' opposition parties in false cases, says Mayawati

Lucknow: BSP president Mayawati on Thursday accused the BJP-led central government of “misusing power” by “framing” the opposition parties in false cases after the Income Tax Department attached a ‘benami’ property of her brother worth Rs 400 crore in Noida. Mayawati recently appointed her brother, Anand Kumar, as national vice president of the Bahujan Samaj Party.

“A similar disgusting deed was done by this party’s government in 2003 through the IT Department and the CBI against us, which is well known. After a long struggle, we got justice in the end in the Supreme Court,” she added.

The provisional order for the attachment of the seven-acre plot, “beneficially owned” by Kumar and his wife Vichiter Lata, was issued on July 16 by the Income Tax Department’s Delhi-based Benami Prohibition Unit.

The plot, where a five-star hotel and other luxury facilities were planned to be created, is registered at no 2A, Sector 94, Noida, in Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Budh Nagar district, part of the National Capital Region. ‘Benami’ properties are those in which the real beneficiary is not the one in whose name the property has been purchased.

According to findings of the probe, the tax department detected a “complex web of shareholding” by at least six firms, including dummy companies, who were the ‘benamidars’ or the entities in whose name the ‘benami’ property is standing.

The companies identified as ‘benamidars’ in the order are Vision Town Planners Private Limited,BPTP International Trade Center Pvt Ltd, Euro Asia Mercantile Pvt Ltd, Sunny Cast and Forge Pvt Ltd, Karishma industries Pvt Ltd and Ad-Fin Capital Services India Pvt. Ltd.

Kumar and his wife are the sole beneficiaries of the funds of the multi-layered ‘benami’ transactions that took place through these companies, the department alleged.