12 firms bought poll bonds after action by probe agencies

Sandeep Dikshit & Animesh Singh

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 15

Over a dozen cases have emerged where companies under the scanner of Central agencies purchased electoral bonds worth crores of rupees, a few months or even days after their premises were raided.

Leading the pack is the lottery company, Future Gaming, which purchased electoral bonds worth Rs 1,326 crore. A raid by the ED on April 2, 2022, was followed by purchase of electoral bonds five days later.

Pharma major Aurobindo Pharma bought electoral bonds worth Rs 52 crore and half of this amount was donated five months after the owner turned approver in the Delhi excise policy case. The company also bought bonds five days after the arrest of its managing director.

Shirdi Sai Electricals bought electoral bonds worth Rs 40 crore, all on the same date in early January, after being raided by the Income Tax Department in December last year.

The same was the case with Hero Motocorp, which was raided on March 31. It purchased bonds on October 7. Dr Reddy’s also purchased bonds on November 17, 2023, after an I-T raid just four days earlier. Kalapataru Projects bought Rs 25.5 crore worth of electoral bonds between April and October 2023, after an I-T raid on August 4, 2023.

Similarly, Micro Labs was raided by the Income Tax Department on July 14, 2022. It bought electoral bonds worth Rs 5 crore three months later.

Hetero Group bought Rs 60 crore bonds during April 2022 after it was raided by the I-T Department six months earlier in October 2021. Two companies of the RP Sanjiv Goenka Group also donated shortly after being pulled up by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).

Construction firm Chennai Green Woods Pvt Ltd bought electoral bonds worth Rs 105 crore in tranches after it was raided by the I-T Department in July 2021.