I-T Dept raids Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren’s aide Sunil Srivastava residence in Ranchi, Jamshedpur

Ranchi/Jamshedpur: With countable days left for first phase of polls in Jharkhand, Income Tax department on Saturday conducted raids at the residence of Jharkhand Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren’s personal secretary Sunil Srivastava.

According to sources in the police department, the IT sleuths conducted raids at 16-17 locations linked to Srivastava, including his family members’ residences and properties of close associates.

The officer added that ongoing searches are being carried out across several sites, with seven in Ranchi and nine in Jamshedpur, including the offices of Jamshedpur-based Anjania Steel and other associated establishments.

The raids reportedly stem from allegations of tax evasion, with information received by the department suggesting Srivastava’s involvement in tax-related discrepancies, leading to swift departmental action.

Reacting to the raids, INDIA Alliance coalition partner Congress accused the BJP ruling at Cnetre of using central agencies to target opposition leaders.

Congress leader Rakesh Sinha stated, “This is nothing new for Jharkhand. IT raids are being carried out on opposition leaders and their personal staff continuously in the state. BJP is now only trying to find its footing through IT and ED raids. The people here have already rejected them. With such actions, they are just attempting to create pressure on opposition leaders.”

Previously, on October 26, the Income Tax Department conducted searches in Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Giridih, and Kolkata, targeting alleged financial transactions routed through hawala networks. The raids resulted in the seizure of documents related to unaccounted assets worth around Rs 150 crore. Just weeks earlier, on October 14, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the properties of Mithilesh Thakur, a cabinet minister in the Soren government, over alleged irregularities in the Jal Jeevan Mission projects. The searches were conducted across 20 locations, including properties of Thakur’s brother Vinay Thakur, his private secretary Harendra Singh, and departmental engineers.

Commenting on the timing of the investigations, Chief Minister Hemant Soren alleged political motivation behind the raids, asserting that such actions were expected as the elections approached. He claimed these moves were driven by opposition forces seeking to create pressure on his government and its allies.