Unaccounted cash worth crores recovered in raids on industrialist's premises: Sources
Kanpur/Kannauj(PTI): Unaccounted cash worth over Rs 150 crore has been unearthed in a series of joint raids by various taxation agencies at business and official premises of a Kanpur-based perfume industrialist, sources said on Friday.
The residential and business premises of Kanpur industrialist Piyush Jain were raided on Thursday and Friday by sleuths of various anti-tax-evasion agencies, including the Income Tax Department, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Intelligence unit, they said.
Though there was no official confirmation of raids and seizures, a senior tax-enforcement official said on the condition of anonymity that raids were conducted at Jain's multiple premises in Kanpur, Gujarat and Mumbai began on Thursday.
Some photographs of the alleged raids going viral on various social media platforms showed stacks of cash stuffed in large wardrobes at the residential premises of Jain in Kanpur.
Jain runs the perfume-manufacturing units also in Kannauj district, neighbouring Kanpur. The tax officials also raided a factory manufacturing 'Shikhar' brand of pan masala and other scented tobacco products here in the city.
During raids at the residential premises, huge amounts of cash, wrapped in paper, has been found, the official added.
The money was allegedly linked to the dispatch of goods via fake invoices and without e-way bills by a goods transporter, the official said.
Meanwhile, reports coming from Kannauj said that the sleuths at around 3.00 pm reached the Kannauj residence of Jain along with his two sons Molu and Pratyush, and entered the residence.
The raids also started a war of words on twitter between the BJP and Samajwadi Party.
In a tweet in Hindi, the UP unit of the BJP said, "People of SP, the smell of your sins will not be washed away by the 'perfume of corruption'. More than Rs 150 crore of black money has been seized. And it is natural for Akhilesh to feel the pain, when action is initiated on the corrupt people."
"The entire UP knows that SP means corruption," the tweet said.
Rebutting the claims of the BJP, Manish Jagan Agrawal, the digital media co-ordinator of SP in a series of tweets in Hindi said, "The raids at the house of Shikhar Pan Masala Group and perfume trader Piyush Jain in Kanpur and the cash recovered is a story of failure of demonetisation. The BJP and the media are defaming SP by forcibly linking Piyush Jain and Shikhar Pan Masala to SP. Piyush Jain has nothing to do with SP MLC Pumpi Jain."
"Since a few days ago, income tax raids were conducted on people linked to the SP. But, the government and the agencies did not get anything. The people of SP came out clean. Hence, a frustrated BJP immediately conducted a raid, and recovered cash, and also hatched a conspiracy to link their propaganda with the SP, and mislead the people," Agrawal said in another tweet.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
