I-T raid at premises of NCP minister Bhaskar Jadhav

MUMBAI: The I-T department on Tuesday raided the premises of NCP leader and Maharashtra minister of state for urban development Bhaskar Jadhav, who came under the scanner for a lavish wedding hosted by him at Chiplun in the Konkan region last week.

Even his party chief Sharad Pawar had openly criticised Jadhav for spending crores on a wedding even as Maharashtrais facing drought in some regions. The search and seizure operations were carried out by a team of 11 officers at a hotel owned by Jadhav as well as his residence in Chiplun (Ratnagiri) and Karad (Satara), according to officials of the tax department.

An official, who was part of the search operations, said: “Our target is to get the information about the source of money that was spent at the wedding.”

The tax officers also recorded the statement of the NCP leader at his Chiplun residence. The I-T is gathering crucial info about the huge expense incurred during the wedding of Jadhav’s son and daughter, which was attended by about 1,00,000 guests, and 22 helipads were built for guests arriving from Mumbai and other cities. Jadhav tendered a public apology for the excesses after Pawar expressed his displeasure.

Pawar had said any person who can spend like that while several districts in the state have acute water shortage and drought has no right to be in public life.