A day after raids on Swaraj India chief Yogendra Yadav’s family members, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal came out in support of his former colleague on Thursday and said the Narendra Modi-led government must end its “vendetta politics”.
“We strongly condemn victimisation of Yogendra Yadav’s family by the Modi government through the use of agencies like IT (Income Tax Department). Modi government should stop such vendetta politics,” Kejriwal tweeted.
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On Wednesday, the I-T department raided multiple premises of a hospital group run by Yadav’s sisters in Haryana’s Rewari and reportedly recovered about Rs 22 lakh cash.
The raid was reportedly conducted after it was detected that the owners allegedly made cash payments to a Nirav Modi firm for purchasing jewellery.
Yogendra Yadav, however, alleged that the raid was conducted at his sisters’ hospital-cum-nursing home premises with an intent to “intimidate” and “silence” him as he had launched an agitation for fair crop price for farmers and against liquor shops in that city in Haryana.
“The Modi regime now targets my family. Two days after my nine-day padyatra in Rewari and launching of agitation for MSP (minimum support price) and against liquor thekas, a massive IT raid is on at the hospital cum nursing home of my sisters in Rewari.
“Please search me, my home, why target my family?” Yadav tweeted.
In another tweet, he said more than 100 officials from Delhi raided the hospital at 11 am on Wednesday and “detained” all the doctors, including his sisters, brother-in-law and nephew, in their chambers.
“Hospital sealed, including ICU for newborn babies. A clear attempt to intimidate. Modiji you can’t silence me,” Yadav said.
The officials said the tax department began the searches at 11 am at the Kalawati Hospital and Kamla Nursing Home in that Haryana town, and the residences of its main partner Dr Gautam Yadav and others.
Gautam Yadav is the nephew of Yogendra Yadav and son of his sister, Dr Neelam Yadav.
Officials said the tax department carried out the action acting on inputs received from a dossier of information from the group of diamond merchant Nirav Modi, absconding from probe in the USD 2 billion PNB fraud case. It was found that Gautam Yadav allegedly paid Rs 3.25 lakh in cash, out of the total Rs 6.50 lakh, for purchase of jewellery from the diamantaire’s firm.
(With agency inputs)
