Income Tax Department attached Property worth Rs.10 Crore in Benami Assets Case

The Income Tax Department has attached another property in Lucknow worth approximately Rs.10 crore as part of its ongoing investigation into gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari and his family.

During a recent IT department drive code-named ‘Operation Panther,’ 23 more benami properties belonging to Ansari were identified and will be attached soon, according to sources.

Ansari and his associates have so far had properties worth Rs 295 crore seized by the UP Police and other agencies all over the state.

A 3,234 square foot plot in Lucknow’s Dalibagh neighbourhood was attached by the Income Tax department on Sunday. Tanveer Sahar, a resident of Ghazipur, is the benamidar (the name under which the property is registered).

According to sources, Sahar is a member or assistant of the Ansari family. She has no reliable sources of income and has never filed an income tax return, making her ineligible to buy the Dalibagh plot.

The Department came to the conclusion that Sahar is the fake owner, or benamidar, of the property. Following the department’s attachment of the first piece of property in the case against Ansari in April, the most recent attachment was made.