Assets of Ratul Puri, his father attached

New Delhi, August 11

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The Income Tax Department today said it had attached benami assets, including Rs 300-crore bungalow in a posh Delhi locality and $40 million funds brought from a Mauritius-based entity, in connection with its probe against businessman Ratul Puri, nephew of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, and his father.

It said a provisional order of attachment against the Puris had been issued under Section 24(3) of the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988. The law was lying inoperative and was enforced from November 2016 by the Modi government.  The I-T Department, last month, similarly attached Rs 254 crore worth of “benami” equity of Puri, which he stated to have allegedly received from a suspect in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam case via shell companies.

Puri, chief of Hindustan Powerprojects Pvt (HPP) Ltd, is also being probed by the Enforcement Directorate in the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP chopper probe case and the Central agency had recently got issued a non-bailable warrant against him from a local court here. The attached bungalow is located at 27A, APJ Abdul Kalam Road, and is registered in the name of Ramaa Advisors Pvt Ltd. — PTI