Madhya Pradesh raids: Kamal Nath aides, Digvijaya on CBI radar

Even as the Congress stands on shaky ground owing to its poor performance in the Madhya Pradesh Lok Sabha polls, in yet another jolt to the party, probe reports and dossiers submitted by the Election Commission to the CBI allege cash transfer to 11 Congress candidates in the state and payments of almost ₹20 crore made to the All India Congress Committee (AICC), said a report by Indian Express.

I-T department which on April 7 conducted almost 52 raids at the residences and offices of Kamal Nath and five of his close aides on charges of tax evasion and hawala transactions, had submitted a report in this regard to the Election Commission which was forwarded to the CBI for investigation.

Reports say the investigators matched accounting records with testimonies and tracked money transfers through WhatsApp chats and intercepted phone conversations. It is alleged that money was “diverted for use of various candidates” while recommending, in writing on May 4, a CBI inquiry, the Indian Express report stated.

Investigations revealed that Digvijaya Singh tops the list of candidates who received election funds from persons covered in the searches. The Lok Sabha Congress candidates allegedly received between ₹25 to ₹50 lakh through one Lalit Kumar Challani while Digvijaya received ₹90 lakh.