Raid on Koda houses continues

The country-wide raid by Income Tax teams on properties, allegedly owned by former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda and his associates continued for the second day today.

"Investigations, questioning and raids at several places are still on," IT director of investigation Ujjwal Chaudhary told reporters here.

"It is in a critical stage," he said and refused to share any additional information.

"Raids at some places concluded while they are continuing in several other places. Seizure of documents and sealing of houses is continuing," said another IT official.

"Some persons have come up to face questioning, while Vinod Kumar Sinha, one of the main associates of Koda, has still not turned up," the official said.

The income tax department yesterday gave Sinha 24 hours notice to meet them or face legal action.

The raids began yesterday after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a case against Koda and his associates Sanjay Choudhary and Vinod Sinha on October 9 on charges of making huge illegal investments abroad.

Some people in Mumbai were also being questioned, the officer said.

"It will take some more days to conclude. They (the accused) took three years to hoard the money, and you expect us to conclude in three days," he said when asked whether the search operation would conclude tomorrow.

As many as seventy IT teams launched the raids in several cities yesterday.