Money laundering row: Misa Bharti skips IT summons again

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's daughter Misa Bharti once again skipped the summons by the Income Tax Department on Monday, in connection with the money laundering case registered against her.

For the second time in two weeks, the RJD supremo's daughter, who was to appear before the IT Department on Monday, gave the interrogation a miss, reportedly citing personal reasons for the same.

Owing to this, the officials are to issue a second penalty worth Rs. 10,000 with regard to non-compliance of the IT department regulations, and will deliberate on giving her a third chance to appear for questioning.

Earlier on June 6, the IT department issued a show cause notice for penalty to Bharti for her absence during the interrogation procedure, and was fined Rs. 10,000 for the same.

Prior to this, Bharti and her husband were summoned by the IT department in connection with a 'benami' assets case.

The summons were issued days after the arrest of Bharti's Chartered Accountant (CA) Rakesh Agrawal, in connection with an Enforcement Directorate probe into a Rs. 8,000 crore money laundering racket, involving two Delhi-based businessmen and a few political entities.

Agrawal was arrested under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for allegedly being instrumental in providing accommodation entries (illegal funds) to launder the money of businessmen brothers- Virendra Jain and Surendra Jain.

The IT department in its summons reportedly said it wishes to question Misa and her husband on transactions conducted by M/s Mishail Packers and Printers Private Limited.

Misa is also under the scanner for dubious land ownership deals.

The IT department had conducted raids and surveys at about 22 locations in Delhi and adjoining areas in connection with alleged benami deals of Rs 1,000 crore by Lalu's family.