I-T Department attaches Misa Bharti, husband Shailesh Kumar's assets in benami assets case

Trouble doesn’t seem to end for Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family as the Income Tax (I-T) department issued a final attachment order against his daughter Misa Bharti and her husband Shailesh Kumar in the benami assets case, according to media reports. [caption id=“attachment_3471534” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Misa Bharti. CNN-News18[/caption] The I-T department confirmed the attachment of Misa Bharti and Shailesh Kumar’s assets with the case, reported CNN-News18. Bharti and her husband have 90 days to respond to it, it added. The properties attached include a house in Delhi’s upmarket New Friends Colony, a farm house in Bijwasan area of the national capital and nine plots in Jalalpur area of Patna in Bihar, reported IANS.  India Today reported that Bharti’s Delhi and Patna properties were attached in the order. This development comes close on the heels of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) attaching a Delhi farmhouse on 5 September in connection with its money laundering probe against Bharti and her husband. The property belongs to Bharti and her husband Shailesh Kumar and is “held in the name of M/s Mishail Packers and Printers Private Limited,” the central probe agency said. The department had earlier served notices of attachment of assets to Prasad, Bihar’s ex-chief minister, his wife Rabri Devi, also a former chief minister, son Tejashwi Yadav, former state deputy chief minister, daughters Chanda, Ragini Yadav and Misa Bharti, an MP, and son-in-law Shailesh Kumar. The department has said these alleged benami assets bear a “deed” value of about Rs 9.32 crore but the taxman has estimated their current market value at Rs 170-180 crore. Benami properties are those in which the real beneficiary is not the one in whose name (benamidar) the property has been purchased. The Prasad family has said the cases are the outcome of a “vendetta” against them. The Lalu family has multiple corruption cases against them including the IRCTC graft case, benami land deal case and fodder scam to name a few. Most recently, Lalu and his son Tejashwi Yadav failed to appear before the CBI on Monday and Tuesday for questioning in connection with the IRCTC graft case, prompting CBI to set fresh dates. With inputs from PTI and IANS