TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ The Income Tax Department has attached Rs 254 crore worth of “benami” equity of Ratul Puri which he had allegedly received from a suspect in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam case via shell companies, officials said Tuesday. Puri is the nephew of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath.
They said a provisional order for attachment of the shares or non-cumulative compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS) has been issued under the Benami Property Transactions Act. The funds were received as FDI investment in Optima Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, a group concern of his father Deepak Puri’s company Moser Baer, they said.
The I-T department alleges that the investment of Rs 254 crore was generated through “over-invoicing of imports of solar panel” by another group company, namely HEPCL, and was “facilitated through shell companies” of Dubai-based operator Rajiv Saxena, who is an accused in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam case.
