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IT attaches property of Mayawati's brother, wife
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New Delhi, July 18

The Income Tax Department said on Thursday it has attached a benami commercial plot in Noida worth Rs 400 crore belonging to BSP chief Mayawati's brother Anand Kumar and his wife ahead of by-elections in Uttar Pradesh.

A senior IT official told the media that the wealth of Anand Kumar and his wife Vichiter Lata rose steeply between 2007 to 2012, coinciding with the years Mayawati was the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister.

An IT order said the Benami Prohibition Unit of Delhi had passed a Provisional Attachment order on Tuesday under section 24 (3) of the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988.

This related to the plot of land measuring 28,328.07 square meters (seven acres) located in a prime locality in Noida which is owned by Anand Kumar and his wife.

"The book value of the property is approximately Rs 400 crore," the order said.

The official said that Anand Kumar, a businessman who maintains a low profile in the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), had been on the radar of the Income Tax Department even before the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections that brought the BJP to power.

The total properties apparently belonging to Anand Kumar and his wife are estimated at Rs 1,300 crore. 

The official revealed that Anand Kumar was the proprietor of over 12 companies and had amassed over Rs 440 crore in cash and properties worth Rs 870 crore.

According to BSP leaders, Anand Kumar is currently the BSP Vice President while his son Akash Anand is National Coordinator.

The IT action comes at a time when Mayawati is facing the heat of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the sale of 21 state-run sugar mills and the construction of memorials during her Chief Ministership.

Last week, the CBI raided the premises of several former and current IAS officers in the state in connection with the sugar mills case, including the residence of former Principal Secretary Netram, considered a close aide of the BSP chief.

On March 12 this year, just before the Lok Sabha election, the Income Tax department also raided over a dozen locations of Netram over suspected tax evasion amounting to Rs 100 crore.