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Fallout after friendship: I-T raids against 'Shiv Sena contractors' now

New Delhi: As the Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party's pre-poll alliance started falling through last week, the Central government started unleashing the might of the Income Tax department on contractors working regularly with the Shiv Sena-controlled Birhanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

I-T sleuths, while conducting simultaneous search and survey operations in several parts of Maharashtra, also raided the premises of three BMC contractors, namely Railcon, Skyway Infraprojects and RP Shah Infra Projects, in connection with alleged bogus invoicing and illegal capital transfers.

According to officials in the know, the raids, which ended early this week, had revealed that these contractors had shown bogus purchases and capital transfers worth over Rs 275 crore. But the raids on these three contractors resulted in almost no cash recoveries, one official said.

Interestingly, all three contracting companies have been favourites of the Sena-controlled BMC. For instance, in the last two years, Skyway was awarded the contract to construct a Rs 119 crore cycle and jogging track in addition to a Rs 60 crore contract to redevelop the Byculla Zoo.

Moreover, RP Shah Infra Projects, a company blacklisted by the BMC earlier has consistently received contracts worth hundreds of crores from the corporation, sometimes through related concerns.

In March this year, the BMC had awarded a Rs 24 crore Freeway contract to a company owned by the wife of RP Shah Infra Project's owner. And more recently, the company was also given a water project contract worth around Rs 70 crore. Furthermore, Railcon has previously been investigated in a road scam as well, with one director having been arrested.

But these contractors did not invite scrutiny in the last few years, because of the Sena-BJP alliance, with contracts regularly being awarded to them. The I-T raids, however, were conducted after Sena started to withdraw from their saffron allies, following the announcement of the Assembly poll results.

With President's Rule imposed in the state, it remains to be seen, whether the opposition crumbles under the pressure that is to come or rises above it.

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