Now playing in Pratapgarh: Chickens come home to roost

According to Pratapgarh’s District Magistrate, Mohammad Mustafa, the plane may either be impounded by them or the Income Tax authorities since they had plenty of proof of the enormous illegal income of the detained members of the Kunda clan.

‘‘We are trying to find out whether Udai Pratap had a licence for the plane and ask him to prove whether he purchased it from his declared income,’’ he informed. ‘‘Similarly, other expensive moveable items are bound to be impounded.’’

The arrest of Raja Bhaiyya and his father resulted in massive mopping up operations, being handled by several departments. And the inventory of recoveries is already staggering.

For instance, Raja Bhaiyya’s lake, now converted into a bird sanctuary via a Government order, measures 1,024 acres. This, land records have shown, is Government land which Raja Bhaiyya gradually converted into ‘‘pattas’’ using names of non-existent villagers.

Similarly, records have shown that Udai Pratap was constructing a cemented runaway for his plane in Bhadri on a 185-acre strip of land which belonged to three villages. ‘‘The process of the Government acquiring that illegally-occupied land is also underway,’’ said the District Magistrate. The Government will also be looking for the source of income with which the Kunda family purchased other moveable articles like a bulldozer, and even the handsome horses that can be spotted in their estates.

Known to few, the crackdown on the financial empire built by Udai Singh and his only son, began in earnest when the State Government succeeded in dismissing the Board of the Urban Mercantile Cooperative Bank, Pratapgarh, in which the family had several bank accounts.

The Government appointed its own Administrator in the bank and on December 16th swooped down and sealed their accounts. Around Rs 3.5 crore were found in various branches of the bank.

At last count, the authorities counted 70 bank accounts in the names of Raja Bhaiyya, Udai Singh and their respective wives, Bhanvi and Manjula.

All these financial transactions are being investigated by the Income Tax Department, which has also taken all the jewels and other vaulables recovered at the time of Udai Singh’s January 25th arrest in their custody.

The recovery list of the IT in the case, accessed by The Indian Express, is another revealing document. The heirlooms are listed in 88 heads, and include some priceless diamond and emerald ornaments, cases full of family silver, and bric-a-brac like tie pins, saree pins, wrist watches and puja utensils.

Significantly, all the valuables were recovered from suitcases hidden in recently-dug trenches in the orchards within Udai Singh’s estate. And while his wife, Manjula Raje told The Indian Express that the jewels would be worth Rs 60 lakh, Government officials give an early estimate of them costing ‘‘at least’’ Rs 5 crore.

It was the chance recovery of Raja Bhaiyya’s daily income and expenditure records from the house of his book-keeper Hari Om Srivastava on November 30, (three weeks after Raja Bhaiya’s arrest) that helped the Government prove his illegal income.

A perusal of the records, lying with the Kunda police, shows that the family earned more than Rs 1 lakh daily from sale of fish from the lake and had a flourishing business in sale of country liquor in the 47 vends they had operated illegally.

The vends were being run by them without any payment to the state excise Department and inquiries revealed that though letters of complaint had been written by excise officers overthe years, the business went on unhampered. What is important is that ensuing investigations showed how entries made by Hari Om Srivastava in his daily account books, matched the cash deposits made on the same or following days in the bank accounts.

Officials say the IT Department was getting busy valuing the moveable and immovable assets of the family and would soon be slapping notices for their illegal income. Sums up Mustafa, ‘‘The Government was loosing Rs 5 crore a year just from the illegal liquor business of Raja Bhaiya. Massive investigations are on. Many more heads may role as the role of errant Government officials and Tehsildars, who allowed the loot to continue, is uncovered.’’