Maha: IT raids on premises of bizmen ‘linked’ to Aaditya Thackeray, Anil Parab

Income Tax raids in Mumbai: When asked about the searches, Aaditya said central agencies were being used as a publicity machinery of the BJP and misused in other parts of the country too.

Searches were currently underway by the investigation wing of the Income Tax department on more than 20 premises across Maharashtra. Of these, 12 of the sites were in Mumbai.

File photo of Maharashtra environment and tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray. (HT_PRINT)

The raided premises belonged to businessmen and individuals believed to be closely associated with Shiv Sena ministers Aaditya Thackeray and Anil Parab. Aaditya is also the son of chief minister and Sena president Uddhav Thackeray. Agency sources said the action was meant to look into suspected tax evasion.

When asked about the raids, Aaditya, who heads the environment and tourism departments, said central agencies were being used as a publicity machinery of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and misused in other parts of the country too.

“Central agencies (have been) misused in the past too – it happened in Bengal, Andhra Pradesh – and now, it is happening in Maharashtra. Central agencies have in a way become publicity machinery of BJP itself. Maharashtra will not bow down,” the MLA from Mumbai was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Meanwhile, BJP legislators staged a protest outside the Maharashtra Assembly demanding the resignation of cabinet minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik. Malik was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering case involving fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim.

The Sena and BJP severed their decades-old ties in 2019 over power-sharing issues, following which the former allied with the NCP and Congress to come to power in Maharashtra.

(With inputs from agencies)