‘It’s not BJP money’: Sitharaman on Rs 200 cr seized from perfume maker Piyush Jain in Kannauj

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who attended the GST Council meeting on Friday, said cash worth around Rs 200 crore recovered during Income Tax raids from perfume maker Piyush Jain is not BJP money. Speaking to reporters on the timing of the tax raids, Sitharaman said law enforcing agencies work on actionable intelligence.

Asked about the opposition’s allegation that the Rs 197.49 crore recovered from Piyush Jain in Uttar Pradesh’s Kannauj was his party’s money, he said, “It is not BJP money,” and that tax officials “mistake” that. The person was raided and now raiding. They originally wanted to target another Jain.

He said former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav was “courageous” from the raids as he sought to defend the action.

“How do you know whose money it is? Are you his partner? Because only the partner knows whose money is kept,” she said. Rejecting the opposition’s charge that the raids were politically motivated, he asked whether the raiding parties came up empty handed.