‘It’s Not BJP Money’: Nirmala Sitharaman on Rs 200 Crore Seized from Perfume Maker Peeyush Jain in Kannauj

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who attended the GST Council meeting on Friday, said the nearly Rs 200 crore cash recovered during income tax raids from businessman Peeyush Jain is not BJP money. Speaking to reporters on the timing of the tax raids, Sitharaman said law-enforcing agencies act on actionable intelligence in conducting raids.

“It is not BJP money,” she said when asked about opposition charge that the Rs 197.49 crore cash recovered from Jain in Uttar Pradesh’s Kannauj was her party’s money and the tax authorities had raided the person by “mistake” and are now raiding the other Jain they had originally wanted to target.

She said the former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav is “shaken” by the raids, as she sought to defend the action.

“How do you know whose money is it? Are you his partner? Because only partners know whose money is kept,” she said. Dismissing opposition charge that the raids were politically motivated, she asked if the raiding parties come empty-handed.