On May 30, 2012, the United Progressive Alliance government created the Directorate of Income Tax (Criminal Investigation) solely to tackle the menace of black money. Two months after its formation, the unit's director-general was shifted unceremoniously. Now, before it could celebrate its first anniversary, the Directorate of Criminal Investigation has been wound up, after it probed some powerful politicians and businessmen, and unearthed several cases of money-laundering. This is not surprising. The government seems to be providing a fertile ground for the generation and growth of black money. Remember the case of Hasan Ali Khan of Pune, and his alleged partners-in-crime, Kashinath Tapuriah and Chandrika Tapuriah? The Income-Tax Department had raised a demand totalling Rs 60,000 crore on these three. During a raid in January 2007, the Enforcement Directorate had discovered documents at Khan's residence testifying to deposits of $8.04 billion in UBS bank in Zurich. Where has the investigation reached? Nowhere and, evidently, because of the pressure from the right quarters to scuttle the investigation. The Indian government seems to be promoting "economic terrorism" - propagated by the politician-corporate-babu nexus.
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V V Vijayan Mumbai
Letters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:
The Editor, Business Standard
Nehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg
New Delhi 110 002
Fax: (011) 23720201
E-mail: letters@bsmail.in
All letters must have a postal address and telephone number