Bhopal: Income Tax (IT) raids in the properties of a former BJP MLA in a Madhya Pradesh city have yielded unexpected assets- three crocodiles.
The IT sleuths have found the three adult crocs in a small pond in the house of ex-BJP MLA Harvansh Singh Rathore in district headquarters of Rathore while raiding his property in the city, a forest officer said.
Besides the three crocs, the IT raids, continuing since Sunday, have also yielded gold, cash and properties worth crores of rupees.
The IT officials alerted the state forest department after they found three crocs in the BJP leader’s house, sources said.
“We will release these crocodiles in the dams in the state after examining their health”, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) (forest force) Aseem Srivastav said on Friday.
Rathore was elected to the Madhya Pradesh Assembly in 2013 as a BJP MLA and is currently vying for the post of district unit president of BJP in the ongoing organizational election of the party.
The IT raids were conducted in the residences of Rathore and a former councilor Rajesh Keshawn in Sagar simultaneously following allegation of tax evasion of Rs 155 crore.
The IT sleuths have seized gold and silver jewelries and documents showing benami properties during raids in the houses of the two political leaders.
Kesharwani who runs beedi and construction businesses faces allegation of evading tax to the tune of Rs 140 crore.
The seizures included 9.8 kg gold and a cash of Rs 3.98 crore, sources said.
