A day after his arrest, perfume trader Piyush Jain was sent to judicial custody for 14 days in a tax evasion case by a district court here on Monday, a senior prosecution official said.Jain was arrested on Sunday after raids at his residence in Kanpur and residence and factory in Kannauj by the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) led to the recovery of about Rs 257 crore in cash, 25 kg of gold and 250 kg of silver, according to another official.
Jain was produced in metropolitan court number 10 amid tight security and the court remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days, joint director (prosecution) Sanjay Kumar Tripathi said.The businessman was taken to the Kanpur district jail following the court order.He has been quarantined in the jail in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, a senior jail official said.Prior to being produced in the court, Jain was taken for a medical examination and was also screened for Covid.He tested negative for the viral infection, said an official who did not wish to be quoted.
Officials of the Income Tax department and the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs conducted multiple raids at Jain’s house in Kanpur’s Anandpuri as well as a house and a factory in Kannauj since Wednesday and seized alleged unaccounted cash stuffed in large wardrobes and huge quantities of jewellery.Initially, the seized cash was estimated to be around Rs 150 crore, an official said, adding that after the searches ended, the amount went up to around Rs 257 crore.With the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls just months away, Jain’s arrest has triggered a political slugfest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP).
BJP leaders have sought to link the perfume trader with the SP as Jain had launched the “Samajwadi Attar” (perfume) recently.The SP, however, has denied any links with the businessman.”Since the gold recovered has foreign markings, the DRI is being roped in for necessary investigations,” according to a release issued by the DGGI.Jain’s statement, in which he accepted that the cash recovered was related to sale of goods without the payment of the Good and Services Tax, was recorded on Saturday and Sunday under section 70 of the GST Act, the release said.The evidence collected during the searches is being looked into, it added.A senior official said when Jain was asked about the source of the money, he said he had sold 400 kg of his ancestral gold.However, when asked about the jeweler or the company that bought the gold, he had no substantial answer, the official added.
