Centre unleashes I-T department on Kiran Bedi—The Pioneer—25.10.11

On the back foot over corruption issues raised by Gandhian Anna Hazare, the Government took the help of Income Tax Department to ferret out information about his associate Kiran Bedi's controversial air travel bills that she charged from her various hosts.

“We received specific queries from the IT Department regarding the travel details of Kiran Bedi. An inspector-level officer of the Department even visited our office in the third week of last month to get the details,“ Anil Bal, managing director of Flywel Travels, who manages the former police officer's travel tickets, told The Pioneer.

Bal, who is also a trustee of Bedi's NGO India Vision Foundation, said as per rules, all travel agents are supposed to furnish every three months to the IT Department the data of tickets sold.
“But we got a specific query from the department about Bedi's ticket details and an official even visited our office, which is quite unusual.
We cooperated with the official and gave him all the details,“ he said.

The trustees of Bedi's NGO have instructed her travel agent to return the balance amounts forthwith.

Team Anna has alleged on several occasions in the past that the Government has been using its “dirty tricks department“ to carry out its “smear campaign“ against its members. Bedi has already raised questions over the timing of “revelation“ when she said there was an amazing synchronisation between the anti-corruption corruption movement and the news.

Lawyer Prashant Bhushan has accused the Government of using the IT Department for issuing notice to another colleague and activist Arvind Kejriwal for recovery of “dues“ of over `9.27 lakh following the latter's resignation from the Indian Revenue Service in February 2006.

Kejriwal had received the first notice from the I-T department on August 5 -just days before Anna Hazare's fast on August 16 -for recovery of the dues. He received the second notice this month for payment of the dues by the end of this month.

He said the I-T department was acting at the behest of its “political masters“. “It is not the I-T depart ment's decision. They are doing what the Government is saying. The I-T officials have no role in this notice. They are doing because of the pressure from the political bosses,“ he said. Team Anna has alluded to a pattern in the moves of the Government and the ruling Congress against it. Bhushan and his father Shanti Bhushan were targeted soon after the Joint Drafting Committee (JDC) for the Lokpal Bill was constituted in April. It was followed by Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari's attack on Anna Hazare by calling him “corrupt from head to toe“.

The Bhushans have alleged that they were “targeted“ by the Government when it raked up a CD controversy containing purported conversations between them and Samajwadi Party supremo Malayam Singh Yadav.

Prashant Bhushan has also mentioned the breach of privilege notices issued by MPs in Parliament against him, Kejriwal and Bedi for the remarks which they made during Hazare's agitation at Ramlila grounds in August.

Meanwhile, Bedi said on Monday that the trustees of her NGO have asked the travel agent to return money to those organisations from which more money was taken.

“Trustees (of the foundation) have instructed the travel agent to return the balance amount forthwith. They have already passed a resolution directing me to travel strictly as per invite. This leaves no room for discretion,“ she said.

She said Bal, who is also a trustee of the foundation, was handling the travel account and has been asked to return the money. The trustees, including adman Prahlad Kakkar, Laveleen Thadani, Achal Paul, Pradeep Halwasiya, Amarjit Singh and Sunil Nanda, were of the view that she need not save money for the NGO in this way, she said.

“I never handled this money.
The agency issued the receipts and received the money. So the trustees have asked the agency to return the money which is lying in the travel account,“ she said.