New Delhi: The Income Tax department on Tuesday attached Rs 150 crore-worth Gurugram's Bristol Hotel in connection with a probe into the 'benami' transactions and properties of Haryana Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi, officials here said.
The Benami Prohibition Unit (BPU) of the I-T department attached the 5-star hotel and said Bishnoi and his brother Chander Mohan had acquired a major stake in the property through a shell company registered in the British Virgin Islands.
The I-T officials said Bristol Hotel was owned by one Bright Star Hotels, in which a front company registered in the BVI had acquired 34 percent stake. This front company was allegedly operated from the United Arab Emirates by people close to the Bishnoi family.
In fact, one of the directors of Bright Star Hotels — the parent company of the attached hotel — is listed as Vikrant Bishnoi, a family member.
The tax officials added that Bristol Hotel was attached under Section 24(3) of the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988.
Sources here added that the connection between Bishnoi and the Bristol Hotel surfaced during the recent I-T raids at locations related to the family.
They said the July raids had revealed incriminating evidence about the 'benami' arrangement through which a large stake in the hotel was acquired.
The investigators also maintained that the BVI entity, through which 34 percent stake in Bright Star Hotels was acquired, had shareholders who were "close confidantes" of the Bishnoi family.