(Photo: @samajwadiparty/Twitter) 
Lucknow: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday hit out at the government after the arrest of businessman Piyush Jain and recovery of unaccounted cash over Rs 187 crores. Insisting that the raids on Jain’s houses and establishments in Kanpur were not linked with the Samajwadi Party in any way, he contended that this showed demonetisation had failed.
“Officials who conducted raids may tell sources of recovered newly printed Rs 2,000 notes,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Amit Shah alleged that Jain was “a perfume businessman from Samajwadi Party”. Speaking at a public rally in Sultanpur, the BJP leader said that the SP leader was “squirming” and had questioned the raids. “Rs 250 crore were seized from Piyush Jain’s house. Akhilesh ji, where did this money come from?” he asked.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also hit out at the Opposition with an oblique reference to the trader on Tuesday. “Briefcases full of cash were recovered a few days back, whether this is also their (Opposition) work, and if now they will take credit or not? The fragrance of corruption that was spread before 2017 in the entire state is again in front of the people (sic),” he was quoted as saying during a rally in UP.
A war of words had erupted after the businessman’s arrest on Monday, with both the BJP and SP linking the other party to Jain. While Jain is not related to Samajwadi Party leader Pampi Jain who had launched the ‘Samajwadi Itr’ in Lucknow last month, reports linking the two had initiated the political slugfest. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Monday that he now knew why ‘some people’ had opposed demonetisation, adding that the black money was “now coming out of walls”. SP leaders however contend that Jain’s family was inclined towards the BJP and always supported the ruling party.
The Directorate General of GST Intelligence, Ahmedabad has arrested Jain under Section 67 of the CGST Act in Uttar Pradesh’s Kannauj district after approximately Rs 200 crore was seized from his premises. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs had dubbed this the ‘biggest cash seizure in history’. Alongside, unaccounted sandalwood oil, perfumes worth crores and more had been seized from his factory.
Jain was remanded to 14-day judicial custody by a special court on Monday. As per a PTI report on Sunday anonymously quoting an official, cash worth over Rs 257 crore as well as gold and silver had been recovered during the raids on premises owned by Jain. Allegedly, the money was linked to the dispatch of goods via fake invoices and without e-way bills by a goods transporter.
Even as the DGST raid continues, a team of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials on Tuesday reached the premises of the Kanpur businessman. Reportedly the organisation is mulling the possibility of filing a separate case against him and will help GST officials in fixing the overall value of gold recovered during the raid.
“On Monday, 23 kg of gold and 600 kg of sandalwood oil hidden in underground storage, having a market value of about Rs 6 crore were seized from his office and factory premises. Since the gold recovered is having foreign markings, the DRI was roped in for necessary investigations,” PTI quoted a GST official as saying.