The Income-Tax Department Thursday said that it has attached a Benami plot worth Rs 400 crore in Noida belonging to Bhujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati’s brother Anand Kumar and his wife.
An official provisional order was issued by the Delhi-based Benami Prohibition Unit (PBU) for the attachment of the seven-acre (28,328.07 square meters) plot, owned by Kumar and his wife Vichiter Lata.
The crackdown by the IT came ahead of the upcoming assembly by-polls in the state, spelling further trouble for the BSP, which is going alone in the elections after its decision to break away from the alliance with Samajwadi party.
According to a senior IT official, the wealth of Anand Kumar and his wife rose steeply between 2007 to 2012, which coincides with the years Mayawati was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, news agency IANS said.
The total properties belonging to Anand Kumar and his wife were estimated to be Rs 1,300 crore.
Mayawati had recently appointed Kumar as the national vice president of the Bahujan Samaj Party.