‘Comedy of errors’: IT raids on businessman who launched SP perfume

The Income Tax department on Friday raided at least 50 locations in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Mumbai linked to a businessman who owns perfumery, petrol pumps and cold storage operations and had launched a ‘Samajwadi Party perfume’ ahead of UP elections.

The action comes days after a tax raid on a UP businessman uncovered piles of cash but raised questions whether the IT department had found its intended target: The SP’s Pushp Raj Jain.

Akhilesh Yadav’s SP responded to the raids on Twitter: “After a huge failure last time, this time BJP’s ultimate ally IT (income Tax Department) has finally raided the place of SP MLC Shri Pushp Raj Jain and other perfume traders of Kannauj. Openly misuse of central agencies by scared BJP is common in UP elections. People are watching everything, they will answer by vote.”

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The first raid at the Kanpur and Kannauj premises of one Piyush Jain led to the recovery of ₹196 crore in cash and 23kg gold.

The BJP was then quick to link Piyush Jain with the SP, saying he had launched the Samajwadi Party perfume. On Wednesday Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed in Kanpur: “Boxes filled with notes have come out. The people of Kanpur understand business and trade well. Before 2017, the perfume of corruption that they had sprinkled all over Uttar Pradesh is there for everyone to see.”

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Hitting back, Yadav said the BJP had mixed up businessman Piyush Jain with the SP’s Pushpraj Jain. Denying any link with Piyush Jain, he said the BJP had got “its own businessman raided by mistake”.

Congress leader P Chidambaram then took to Twitter and wondered if the haul was a “comedy of errors”. “I suppose the comedy will not end here. As more accusations are traded between BJP and SP, more characters will emerge,” he said.