Lalu's daughter Misa Bharti skips I-T questioning; show notice served

Patna: Misa Bharti, the eldest daughter of RJD Chief Lalu Yadav was served a show cause notice for not appearing before the Income Tax department on Tuesday.

Party sources said that she had sent her lawyer to the agency seeking a fresh date for appearance. Misa Bharti who was sent a summon notice on May 24 was expected to visit Income Tax department on Tuesday.

Her husband Sailesh Kumar is likely to appear before the tax agency on Wednesday. Sources close to Lalu Yadav’s family said that the income tax department has issued another summon notice and she will now have to appear before the I-T department on June 12.

The summon notice was served to Misa Bharti and her husband Sailesh Kumar after raids were conducted at various locations in Delhi and other adjoining areas in connection with Benami land deals worth Rs 1000 crores.

The I-T department is likely to interrogate her in connection with various dubious transactions and benami land deals worth crores. An investigation against the couple is also being carried out to find whether shell companies were used for money laundering and purchasing of properties.

Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi had earlier raised a string of corruption charges against Lalu Yadav’s family. Modi had accused the family of laundering money through various shell companies to buy properties in Delhi’s high profile locations like Bijawasan at a throwaway price.

According to Sushil Kumar Modi, Misa Bharti converted her black money through a company – Mishail Packers and Printers Ltd.

Modi had further claimed that the company was registered at Lalu Yadav’s the then official bungalow 25, Tuglaq Road, New Delhi and was incorporated with an investment of Rs 1 lakh in 2002. The documents he presented showed that the company was shut down in the year 2005-06.

The farmhouse at Bijawasan area in Delhi was purchased in the year 2008-09 and the current value of the property would be around Rs 50 crore.

Modi had said earlier said that Misa Bharti had invested only Rs 1 Lakh and became the owner of property worth Rs 50 crores. She had also misused the official address of her father who was railway minister in the UPA government.

In May, the enforcement directorate had arrested chartered accountant Rajesh Agarwal in connection with money laundering case. Sources said Lalu Yadav’s family especially Misa Bharti was among other high-profile people who had close links with Agarwal.