MUMBAI: Directorate General of Income Tax (Investigation), Mumbai, 1987 batch IRS officer M V Bhanumathi, retired on Tuesday after her over 17-months packed successful tenure that witnessed searching at the premises of senior politicians kin in Maharashtra and controversial raids on film personalities.
Around 100 income tax officials gathered at the Scindia House, office of the Income Tax Investigation Directorate at Ballard Estate area of South Mumbai, for her farewell ceremony on Tuesday afternoon.
She had took the charge of Income Tax Investigation wing, Mumbai, in 2020 after which the agency searched premises of relatives and close associates of many prominent politicians, including deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and state transport minister Anil Parab. She also took action against Shiv Sena’s former corporator in BMC Yashwant Jadhav for generating tainted money after indulging into corrupt practices.
Last year, the income tax department also exposed a big syndicate involving businessmen, four middlemen working for state ministers after developing the information for six months.
One of the middleman was operating from a booked room of a five-star hotel in South Mumbai. The tax officials had detected suspicious transactions worth Rs 1,050 crore during the search of the middlemen connected with four different state ministers.
Bhanumathi also took keen interest to expose the nexus between BMC standing committee chairman Yashwant Jadhav ( Shiv Sena leader) after searching premises of five influential contractors and collecting evidences showing their suspicious financial transactions with Jadhav and other corporators.
During the period, the I-T investigation wing also searched actress Taapsee Pannu, actor Sonu Sood and director Anurag Kashyap which was termed politically motivated action.
