I-T attaches Lutyens bungalow worth Rs 208-cr in the name of ex-UP engineer

The Income Tax department Wednesday attached a bungalow worth Rs 208 crore, belonging to a former UP government engineer, in the posh Lutyens zone of the national capital, officials said.

An order for provisional attachment of the property was issued by the department under the anti-benami assets law.

A Prithvi Raj Road-located property worth Rs 208 crore of Arun Kumar Mishra, former chief engineer of UPSIDC, has been attached by the I-T department under section 24(3) of the Prohibition of Benami Property Transaction Act, they said.

The department had filed a case against him under the anti-benami assets law.

The property was purchased in 2007 in the name of Kolkata-based Ajanta Merchants Pvt Ltd for a declared consideration of Rs 21.50 crore, they said.

The money trail revealed that funds for purchasing the property were introduced through 36 Kolkata-based shell entities, they added.

Mishra got control of the company by "appointing his brother and close associates as Directors in the period when funds were infused as share premium" and controlled the asset in an alleged benami manner, they said.

The asset was earlier attached by the Enforcement Directorate under the anti-money laundering law.

Mishra has also been booked by the CBI for alleged financial irregularities in the Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Corporation (UPSIDC).