Last weekend the finance ministry for three consecutive days sent out three press releases on the steps taken by the income tax department to check black money. However, the information provided in two of the releases was already in the public domain and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had also spoken about these measures earlier. The timing of the release coincided with yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s decision to go on a hunger strike from June 4 on the issue of black money. This left everyone wondering whether the income tax department was being used to placate Ramdev.