I-T recovers Rs 1.64 cr cash, Mont Blanc pens worth Rs 50 lakhs after raids on retd UP IAS officer

Cash worth over Rs 1.64 crore, Mont Blanc pens valued at Rs 50 lakh, four luxury SUVs and documents indicating 'benami' assets of Rs 300 crore have been recovered during income tax raids on premises linked to a retired Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer, who served in top positions during Mayawati's chief ministership, officials said Wednesday.

The taxman had swooped down on a dozen premises linked to 1979-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Net Ram on Tuesday after it obtained "credible inputs" that the former top bureaucrat and his associates have made "accommodation or bogus entries of about Rs 95 crore from Kolkata-based shell firms" in the past, including during the post-demonetisation period, they said.

They said that during the searches, that are still ongoing, the department recovered a total of Rs 1.64 crore in cash from three houses in Lucknow and Delhi, while another Rs 50 lakh is believed to be stashed in a bank locker, which will soon be opened.

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