I-T dept attaches assets worth Rs 50 cr in 'benami' case against SP leader

Newly constructed flats and a building complex in Varanasi and bank deposits worth about Rs 50 crore have been attached under the anti-benami properties law by the Income Tax department as part of its probe against Maharashtra Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi and his alleged associates, official sources said on Saturday.

The Lucknow-based benami assets investigation unit of the department had launched searches in Varanasi and some parts of Maharashtra early this week as part of this investigation.

Sources told PTI that the raids have ended and the department has attached Rs 10 crore worth of bank deposits of a company called Vinayak Group, Tower 'C' of a real estate property called Vinayak Plaza at Maldahiya in Varanasi worth a few crores of rupees, and 45 flats built in Varuna Gardens project in the Hamrautia locality of the city located on the banks of the river Ganga.

The properties have been attached under the provisions of the Prohibition of Benami Properties Transaction Act.

According to the sources, these 2BHK and 3BHK flats in the Hamrautia project are allegedly owned by Azmi and these are estimated to be worth about Rs 30-32 crore (market value).

This is the first time that the tax department has issued provisional attachment orders for movable and immovable assets, under the anti-benami properties law, during the course of the searches.

Benami means 'no name' or 'without name' and such properties are those in which the real beneficiary is not the one in whose name the property has been purchased.

The department had raided at least nine premises on October 5 and had raided some alleged benamidars (in whose name a benami property is standing) allegedly linked in this case.

Azmi (68) is a third-term MLA from the Mankhurd Shivajinagar seat of Mumbai.

The department may issue summons to various persons for recording their statements in order to take the probe forward.