New Delhi:
Remeber Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa, who was the only EC official who dared to disagree on the clean chit given to arguaebly the country's most powerful persons - Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah - in the case of model code violation during the Lok Sabha election campaigning. The Enforcement Directorate has filed a case against his son Abir and a firm linked to him under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) to probe Abir Lavasa and about Rs 7.25 crore funds raised early this year by a firm—Nourish Organic Foods Pvt Ltd.
According to officials, The purpose of the probe is to ascertain if the FEMA law was contravened in bringing these funds from a Mauritius-based company identified as Saama Capital. Abir Lavasa is reportedly the director of Nourish Organic Foods Pvt Ltd. He and his company are under the investigation over the fund infusion in the the comapny. Lavasa was recently questioned him about these transactions.
Abir Lavasa has assured full cooperation into the probe, they said, adding that some more people have been summoned to take the probe forward. Some other family members of the Election Commissioner are also under the scanner of the tax authorities ever since he dissented on a judgment agaisnt Modi and Shah duo.
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his wife, Novel Singhal Lavasa, came under the scanner of the Income Tax Department on charges of alleged tax evasion. She was issued a notice by the tax department to explain certain details in her I-T Returns (ITR) with regard to holding directorship in about 10 companies, sources had said.
The officials said that after preliminary investigation, the I-T department asked her to provide more documents related to her personal finances to ascertain if her income has escaped assessment in the past or something has been concealed from tax authorities. The department is looking at the ITRs of Novel Singhal Lavasa, a former baker, in relation to a probe into alleged tax evasion and holding of directorship in multiple firms against her for the time period of 2015-17, they had said.
(With PTI inputs)
