IT Dept searches premises of kin of ex-minister Imran Ansari

Srinagar: The Income Tax Department Thursday carried out searches at two premises of a kin of Imran Reza Ansari, a former minister in the PDP-BJP coalition, for alleged tax evasion, officials said here. However Imran Ansari strongly refuted reports of alleged raids by enforcement agencies on any of his premises
They said the income tax officials, assisted by the Jammu and Kashmir police and the CRPF, carried out the searches at a business complex in the upmarket Karan Nagar where locations of North Point Complex were searched by the tax personnel.
Later, a team was sent to search another premises of the family at Alamgiri Bazar in the downtown Srinagar.
The income tax officials maintained that Thursday’s raids were carried out on a business family and were in no way connected to Ansari, a politician who switched over to People’s Conference led by Sajad Lone. Ansari’s sister is married to the family whose premises have been raided.
Meanwhile Imran Ansari has strongly refuted reports of alleged raids by enforcement agencies on any of his premises. He said these rumours were motivated and reflected the panic and desperation among the “traditional twin parties” who stood “stunned” by the emergence of a strong and viable political alternative in the State. “None of my premises have been raided. Rumours and baseless reports to this effect are politically motivated and I am proceeding with defamation suits against those news agencies and portals who have carried forward this rumour without any authentication,” Ansari said in a statement.