Chairman of Bihar State Cooperative Bank, who doubles as Vice-Chairman of apex body of co-op banks NAFSCOB Ramesh Chandra Chaubey was in news as many of his offices and properties were raided on Wednesday by Income Tax sleuths.
Chaubey, who is also a Director on the board of Biscomaun and who is held as close to its Chairman Sunil Kumar Singh, dismissed the raid as nothing more than a political vendetta. Incidentally, Biscomaun Chairman Sunil is close to RJD leader and is playing an active role in poll bound Bihar. Many see these IT raids as a warning to Sunil, who has recently ventured out in electoral politics by becoming first an MLC and then treasurer of RJD.
It bears recall that the Income Tax Department has conducted searches in poll-bound Bihar and Uttar Pradesh against a businessman involved in mining and the hotel industry and the chairman of a Bihar State cooperative bank on Wednesday.
It said the raids were conducted on Tuesday in Patna, Sasaram and Varanasi on the basis of “actionable intelligence” and Rs 1.25 crore cash was seized while fixed deposit receipts of Rs 6 crore were placed under “prohibitory orders.”
During the search, an amount of Rs 75 lakh was found in a car belonging to the businessman involved in mining and hotel industry. Subsequent investigations led to the finding that this amount was unaccounted and was also linked to the chairman of a Bihar state cooperative bank, Ramesh Chandra Chaubey.
Reacting to the Income Tax raid Chaubey said, “it was not the raid, it was only search and survey in the wake of election in Bihar. It is only a political move to defame my image ahead of Bihar’s election by the ruling party.”
‘He conceded that Income Tax had raided multiple locations including Dehri-On-Sone in Rohtas District, an office at Maurya Lok office in Patna and the headquarters of Bihar State Cooperative Bank.
Chaubey also admitted that from Dehri-on-Sone Rs 23 lakh and from his Patna house Rs 19 lakh was found. “Nothing was found in Maurya Lok office which has been given on lease”, he said while ignoring charges of indulging in any mismanagement of funds.
He further added that my son is a contractor and the cash found at multiple locations was meant for the payment of laborers, building material allowances and other construction work.
Earlier it was confirmed that I would get the ticket for contesting the Bihar Legislative Assembly election from the congress or RJD from Kargahar (Rohtas) constituency and I was sure to win the election but due to the last-minute reshuffle, I failed to get the ticket. The raid was politically motivated”, he asserted.
Meanwhile, the unaccounted cash and documents were seized. It bears recall that Chaubey was one of the co-hosts of a mega co-op conference organized by Biscomaun in which who is who of the co-op sector participated in February this year.