18 more ‘benami’ properties of ex-min Prajapati on I-T radar

LUCKNOW The income tax (I-T) department is likely to attach 18 more ‘benami’ properties of jailed former cabinet minister Gayatri Prajapati that were purchased in the name of other people, under the provisions of Prohibition of Benami Property Transaction Act, 1988, said officials.

On Tuesday, the department had attached Prajapati’s four ‘benami’ properties in the form of plots worth ₹1.21 crore at different locations in Lucknow.

The department had recently identified 18 ‘benami’ properties of the former minister in Barabanki, Raebareli, Unnao and Sultanpur. It was planning to send notices to the purchasers of these properties and attach them through the due legal process, said a senior I-T official.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had confiscated properties worth ₹65 crore of Prajapati’s family members in Amethi in connection with a case of disproportionate assets (DA) lodged against him in December 2022.

The ED had registered the DA case against Prajapati on the basis of findings that surfaced during searches conducted at seven locations of the former minister, his family members as well as aides in Lucknow, Kanpur and Amethi on December 30, 2020.

Prajapati was the mining minister during Samajwadi Party government between 2012-2017. He was in jail since March 2017, after a woman lodged an FIR against him and his associates alleging gangrape, in 2016 at Gautampalli police station of Lucknow.