Bhopal: A scuffle broke out on Sunday between CRPF personnel and Madhya Pradesh Police, when a team of over 200 Income Tax officials along with CRPF personnel swooped in on 50 different premises in the state linked to MP Chief Minister Kamal Nath.
During the raids that continued till the evening, CRPF personnel stationed outside the residence of Ashwin Sharma, associate of Praveen Kakkar, who is the OSD (Officer on Special Duty) to Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath, engaged in an argument with MP Police officers.
The scuffle broke out when MP Police officers tried to enter the premises where Income Tax officials were still continuing with the raids. The Income Tax raids at premises linked to the state chief minister started in the early hours on Sunday around 3 am.
Bhupinder Singh, SP City, said, “We have nothing to do with Income Tax and the ongoing raids. It’s a residential complex, there are people inside who need medical assistance and they are calling the local SHO for help. They have closed the entire complex because of the raids.”
Bhupinder Singh, City SP Bhopal: We’ve nothing to do with Income Tax & the ongoing raid. It’s a residential complex, there are people inside who need medical assistance, they are calling the local SHO for help. They have closed the entire complex because of raid. #MadhyaPradesh pic.twitter.com/ljmrm06kox
— ANI (@ANI) April 7, 2019
While CRPF official Pradeep Kumar said, “Madhya Pradesh Police aren’t letting us work, they are hurling abuses at us. We are only following the orders of our seniors. Seniors have asked us to not let anybody in. Proceedings are on, that is why we’re not letting anybody in and only performing our duty.”
Pradeep Kumar, CRPF Official: Madhya Pradesh Police aren't letting us work, they're hurling abuses at us. We're only following orders of our seniors. Seniors have asked us to not let anybody in. Proceedings are on, that’s why we're not letting anybody in; only performing our duty pic.twitter.com/i2jVyLKJfu
— ANI (@ANI) April 7, 2019
While reacting on the raids, Congress leader Anand Sharma said that the investigative agencies are being misused.
Congress' Anand Sharma on raids being held at locations of Congress leaders: Investigative agencies are being misused. All this is happening during election time. Has any agency gone to BJP to investigate how crores of money are being spent?There’s no CBI, Income Tax&ED for them. pic.twitter.com/YzewPydGZB
— ANI (@ANI) April 7, 2019
Officials are conducting raids in other locations – Indore, Bhopal and Delhi (Green Park) and those being searched are former adviser Rajendra Miglani and executives linked to his brother-in-law’s firm Moser Bayer and his nephew Ratul Puri’s company.