Rs 4.5 cr,property papers seized in I-T raid on Nitish aide

The income-tax department has raided three premises of JD(U) treasurer and former Bihar MLC Vinay Kumar Sinha and seized Rs 4.5 crore cash and papers of over 50 flats in and around Patna

The income-tax department has raided three premises of JD(U) treasurer and former Bihar MLC Vinay Kumar Sinha and seized Rs 4.5 crore cash and papers of over 50 flats in and around Patna.

Sinha,who is said to be close to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar,has real estate and flour mill businesses in Patna. Nitish lived in Sinhas home in the early days of his career in politics. Rs 4.06 crore of the cash seized is unaccounted for,the I-T department said. The discovery of the stash is an embarrassment for the Nitish government,currently in the middle of Bihar Diwas celebrations.

JD(U) state chief Vashistha Narain Singh said the money belonged to Sinha,not to the party. He is the treasurer,but the JD(U) has nothing to do with the cash seized from his premises. The JD(U) files I-T returns and maintains full transparency in its accounts, Singh said.

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I-T Director (Vigilance) Ajay Kumar said the cash was found at Sinhas flour mill. We have also found papers of investments worth over Rs 30 crore made by Sinha and his two brothers Avinash and Rajesh,who too are in the flour mill and real estate businesses, Kumar said.

Sinhas homes in Rajapur and Mainpura were also raided. The I-T department has started scrutinising his bank transactions. Sources in the department said investigators stumbled upon Sinhas stash during routine surveys to detect black money flows into real estate investments.

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