The Kanpur IT Raids: SP Says Agencies Got The Wrong Guy; Here's What We Know

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav, on Tuesday (28 December), denied any connection of Kanpur-based perfume businessman Piyush Jain to his party. Yadav said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had mistakenly raided its own businessman.

Before starting with the Samajwadi Rath Yatra in Unnao, the SP chief, while talking to the reporters, said that the call detail record (CDR) of the businessman will reveal the names of many BJP leaders who were in touch with him.

Yadav claimed that the ‘Samajwadi Itra’ (perfume) was launched by SP MLC Pushpraj Jain and not Piyush Jain. Taking a jibe at the BJP, the SP chief said that a digital gaffe resulted in the ruling party raiding the place of its own businessman (Piyush Jain).

It is worth mentioning that in the recent raids conducted by the Income Tax and Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, about Rs 257 crore cash, 25 kg gold and 250 kg silver were found in perfume trader Piyush Jain’s house in Kanpur.

Piyush Jain had been sent into 14-days judicial custody on Monday (27 December). “The recovery of huge amounts of cash has proved that demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax (GST) have failed,” said the SP chief.

BJP’s top brass hurls caustic barbs at the SP

Initially, many media reports claimed that Piyush Jain is the brother of SP MLC Pushpraj Jain. Based on these reports, many BJP leaders carped at the SP for being complicit in such corruption.

Taking a jibe at Akhilesh Yadav and the SP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Kanpur rally, said, “You Kanpur people understand business quite well, the ‘perfume of corruption’ which they have sprinkled throughout UP before 2017 has once again come to the fore. But now they are not coming forward to take ‘credit’. The heap of notes that everyone saw is their real achievement, this is their truth.”

Addressing a public meeting in Hardoi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said: “When the Income Tax Department raided the Kanpur-based perfume trader, brother Akhilesh's stomach started to twitch, he alleged that the raid was conducted due to political malice. But today, when Rs 250 crore had been recovered from the ‘Samajwadi Itra’ (perfume) maker’s house, he got no answers at all.”

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in a rally in Ghaziabad, taking a dig at the SP said: “A person associated with the SP used to talk about the ‘Samajwadi Itra’, to which our state president (Swatantra Dev Singh) has said that it is no perfume, instead it is the ‘samajwadi stench’.”

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, in a tweet with pictures said, “The slogan of the Samajwadis is that ‘public money is ours’. The 100+ crore found in the GST raid at Piyush Jain’s house, the man who launched the Samajwadi Itra at the SP’s office, which socialism’s black money is this?”

SP retorts, denies any connection with Piyush Jain

Responding to Patra’s tweet, Ashish Yadav, a member of the SP social media team, sent him a bottle of ‘Samajwadi Itra’ and said, “IT raid at Kanpur-based businessman has nothing to do with the SP, nor does he (Piyush Jain) has any relation with the makers of the ‘Samajwadi Itra’. We are sending you the real Samajwadi Itra so that you do not spread the stench of lies, misconceptions and hatred. Lovely aroma gift! ”

SP digital media coordinator Manish Jagan Agrawal alleged that the BJP and the media are defaming the SP by linking the Shikhar Masala Group and Piyush Jain with the SP.

“These businessmen are connected with the BJP and used to donate money to the BJP. This time the BJP asked them for greater donations for the upcoming elections. As they refused to give them money, the BJP raided them to recover the money and conspired to link it with the SP…The BJP is doing propaganda against the SP to confuse the public,” tweeted Agrawal.

Is there any link between Piyush Jain and Pushpraj Jain ‘Pampi’?

As per the locals, the only connection between Piyush Jain, whose house was raided by the IT Department, and SP MLC Pushpraj Jain ‘Pampi’ who is the manufacturer of the recently launched ‘Samajwadi Perfume’ is that both live in the same street, namely the ‘Chhipatti Mohalla’ in Kannauj.

As per Kunal Yadav, Captain Jain and Shashank, the residents of the same street, Piyush Jain is just a perfume manufacturer and has no significant connection with politicians and political parties.

Further investigation into the same revealed that as Piyush Jain’s father Mahesh Chandra Jain is a Chemist, their business is associated with supplying chemical compounds to companies who manufacture gutka, tobacco etc.

Piyush Jain’s brother is Amrish Jain, and not Pushpraj Jain, as claimed by the media and politicians. Pushpraj Jain ‘Pampi’, when asked to comment on the same, said that the only connection between them is that they both live in the same street, belong to the Jain community, and are businessmen. He further informed that Piyush Jain has nothing to do with the ‘Samajwadi Itra’.

Official junks ‘mistaken identity theory’

In response to the allegations of a wrong businessman being raided, sources from the probe agency said that the raid was a result of a focused investigation based on specific inputs.

‘Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), however, junked the mistaken identity theory. They have said they received specific inputs regarding alleged tax evasion by the Shikhar Pan Masala group. A probe led them to transport company Ganpati Road Carriers and Piyush Jain's Odochem Industries, the sources said,’ reports NDTV.

Piyush Jain supplied perfumery compounds to the Shikhar Group and came under the scanner for taking payments only in cash, the sources said, reiterating that it was not a case of mistaken identity.

Akhilesh, Kannauj, and Pampi Jain

It is a well-known fact that Akhilesh Yadav began his career in electoral politics from Kannauj when he was elected an MP in a by-election in 2000. He was then elected for a second term in 2004, and then for a third term in 2009 from the same seat. He was preceded by his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, and succeeded by his wife Dimple Yadav.

Perfume businessman Pushpraj Jain alias Pampi Jain too joined the SP around Akhilesh Yadav’s entry into the politics of Kannauj. Pampi, a close confidant of Yadav, soon emerged as a dominant SP leader and became an MLC on SP ticket. Pampi was entrusted with the responsibility of consolidating the political ground for the SP chief in Kannauj.

MLC Pampi Jain, while launching the ‘Samajwadi Perfume’, has said that this perfume, whenever used, will spread the ‘fragrance of socialism’, enhance love among all and will end hatred in 2022.

Given their decades old influence in the region, this entire belt is said to be the bastion of the Yadav family.