Authorities flabbergasted, neighbours in disbelief, a movie in making and a big political slugfest - such has been the story so far for Piyush Jain - a trader from Uttar Pradesh's city of Kanpur - who had stashed a whopping amount of unaccounted wealth in the basement of his factory.
The perfume businessman from UP's Kanpur was raided by tax authority DGGI on December 23, on suspicion of tax thievery.
The officials, however, found themselves landed in a pond of unaccounted wealth - to find a staggering amount Rs 177 crore cash - the largest such seizure ever. However, the buck didn't stop here - the authorities later recovered another Rs 19 crore cash from Jain's Kannauj residence.
In addition to the cash, the authorities also seized approximately 23 kgs of gold and more than 600 kgs (value: Rs 6 crore approx) of sandalwood oil hidden in underground storage. Further searches are underway at Jain's residential/factory premises in Kannauj.
The raid was concluded today. The story, however, continues.
Political Slugfest - PM vs Akhilesh Yadav
A war of words broke out between PM Narendra Modi and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, who are campaigning extensively in the state ahead of assembly elections.
Both, PM Modi and Akhilesh are linking each other's party to Piyush Jain.
PM Modi, on Monday, said that the "'Ittar'(perfume) of corruption that it had sprinkled all over Uttar Pradesh before 2017 is there for everyone to see."
Yadav, in a rebuttal categorically denied any links between his party and Jain, and mockingly said the ruling BJP got "its own businessman" raided "by mistake".
"Boxes filled with notes have stumbled out. I was thinking they will say that this was also done by us. The people of Kanpur understand business and trade well. Before 2017, the perfume of corruption that they had sprinkled all over Uttar Pradesh is there for everyone to see," Modi said without taking any name. The SP was in power from 2012 to 2017.
Akhilesh, however, has been denying any link with Piyush Jain.
"By mistake, the BJP got its own businessman raided. Instead of SP leader Pushpraj Jain, it got Piyush Jain raided," Yadav told reporters before the start of the "Samajwadi Rath Yatra" in Unnao.
Piyush Jain's simple lifestyle
For one who has thrown up the biggest cash haul in the history of the country, Piyush Jain can easily be mistaken as just another common man. For one who stacked up crores in cash at his house and its walls, Jain`s lifestyle has been astonishingly simple.
In his hometown Kanpur, Jain still rides an old scooter and his house was extremely modest, though he recently renovated it. An IANS report says that Jain owns a Qualis and a Maruti, and when cash spilled out of his house, his neighbours were shocked.
"He was just another businessman in the perfume business and we never imagined that he would have so much cash stacked in his house. He never flaunted his wealth and even his lifestyle was very middle class," said RK Sharma, who lives in the Chippatti locality where Jain also lives.
Judicial custody
On Monday, Jain was remanded to 14-day judicial custody by a local court after he was arrested under Section 132 of CGST Act.
"Jain has accepted that the cash recovered from the residential premises is related to sale of goods without payment of GST," said a GST official.
'Acceptance'
A statement by the DGGI said that Jain has accepted that the cash belongs to him. He, however, claims that he got the money after selling ancestral gold, for which he didn't want to pay taxes.
A movie in making
Noted filmmaker Kumar Mangat Pathak has announced that he will make a film, titled `Raid-2` on the recent Income Tax (I-T) raids in Kanpur and Kannauj on perfumer Piyush Jain.
Pathak made the announcement during a panel discussion at the three-day `Kashi Film Festival` in Varanasi on Tuesday evening.
Pathak, who had earlier produced the Ajay Devgn starrer `Raid`, said that this film only showed that money can come out of walls too, whereas in the recent I-T raids in Kanpur and Kannauj, the money actually started coming out of the walls.
