ED quizzes Lalu’s daughter Misa Bharti over money laundering case

The income-tax department on Wednesday questioned Misa Bharti, MP daughter of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, in connection with its probe into land deals worth Rs 1,000 crore. Image: File

New Delhi: RJD chief Lalu Prasad's daughter Misa Bharti on Tuesday arrived at the Enforcement Directorate office here to join the probe into the ongoing case of money laundering of over Rs 8,000 crore. ED officials on Monday summoned Bharti for questioning. Her husband Shailesh Kumar did not appear before the enforcement authorities on Monday after being summoned by the enforcement agency on Saturday. The ED action comes in the wake of searches carried out at three properties of Shailesh Kumar and Misa Bharti on Saturday for alleged money laundering in the Jain brothers entry operators case. The searches were carried out on the basis of a criminal complaint filed on February 11 with the Serious Fraud Investigating Office (SFIO) in Delhi's Tis Hazari court against Jain brothers -- Surendra Kumar Jain and Virendra Jain - and Jagat Project Pvt. Ltd., chartered accountant Rajesh Kumar Agrawal and others for criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery under the provisions of the Companies Act. The Directorate had on May 22 arrested Agrawal, allegedly linked with Bharti, from Delhi. The Jain brothers were arrested on March 20. According to an ED official, Bharti, who is also a Rajya Sabha member from Bihar, and her husband were directors of Mishail Packers and Printers Private Limited, which is suspected to have entered into 'benami' deals for the purchase of a farm house in Delhi's Bijwasan area. Bharti was on June 21 questioned by the Income Tax officials for over five hours in connection with an over Rs 1,000-crore benami (proxy) land deals case.