Mukhtar Ansari’s two dozen ‘benami’ assets worth Rs 127 cr identified

New Delhi: The Income Tax Department has identified about two dozen ‘benami’ assets worth Rs 127 crore of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari in Uttar Pradesh and other locations as part of a “comprehensive” action against him and his associates, sources said Wednesday.

The department’s Lucknow benami assets investigation unit on Tuesday attached the first benami property in this case, a land parcel located in Ghazipur district worth about Rs 1.29 crore (book value). The market value of this property is about 12 crore, according to an attachment order of the department.

The benamidar (in whose name a benami property is standing) in this case has been identified as an alleged associate and neighbour of Ansari, Ganesh D Mishra while the “beneficial owner” has been named as Ansari in the attachment order.

The attachment order, issued under the provisions of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act of 2016, has been passed under the name and seal of Deputy Commissioner of I-T Alok K Singh under Additional Commissioner of the I-T (Benami Prohibition Unit) Dhruvpurari Singh.