It's not BJP money, FM Sitharaman on Rs 200 cr seized from perfume maker in Kannauj

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman Friday said the search on perfume maker Peeyush Jain in UP's Kannauj district was based on actionable intelligence and the cash recovered was not BJP money, and that it was at the correct address and not an outcome of knocking at wrong doors.

Sitharaman said these seemed to have "shaken" former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav as the person caught red-handed could be his partner or friend.

She rejected the opposition charge that the wrong Jain was raided and the BJP's own money seized, saying, "how do they know whose money is kept? Are they partners (with him)?"


Only partners would know whose money has been stocked.

"If he is so sure to say that it is BJP's money, how does he know? Only if you are running a business in partnership with someone would know whose money is parked. He (Jain) must be their partner that's why they are saying with so much surety that it is BJP's money," she said. "I am saying it is not BJP money."

The intelligence unit of the Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax recovered Rs 197.49 crore cash, 23 kg gold, and some "offending goods" of high value in searches carried out at Odochem Industries, a manufacturer of perfumery compounds, and its proprietor Peeyush Jain since last week.

Yadav had alleged that the raids were conducted on the wrong Jain as his party's MLC having the same business in the same lane and going by similar initials was the actual target.

The income tax department on Friday searched multiple premises linked to certain perfume traders in Uttar Pradesh, including Pushpraj alias Pampi Jain.

Dismissing opposition charge that the raids were politically motivated, the finance minister, under whom the tax agencies work, asked if the raiding parties came empty-handed.

Recovery of money shows there was actionable intelligence, she said, adding that the searches happening on Friday were also based on such inputs. "The person caught redhanded must be his partner or friend, that's why the former chief minister is shaken," Sitharaman said.

On allegations of the wrong person being searched, she asked, "Have they come back empty-handed after the search?"