What has been revealed during the raids at the premises of Mr Saxena and questioning of Shelly are stated to be the proverbial tip of the iceberg. The CBI is said to be after very big fish of the Income Tax Department against whom there had been numerous complaints of corruption and many enquiries were held against him in the past.

According to sources in the Vigilance Department, the vigilance wing got complaints that some officers of the Income Tax Department, Chandigarh, had been forcing businessmen in Ludhiana as well as in northern region to deposit huge sums of money in a private trust called ‘Mother India Fund’. The vigilance wing of the Income Tax Department in Delhi asked the Chief Commissioner, Income Tax Chandigarh, in a letter in October, 2004 to collect facts on the complaints that many businessmen in Ludhiana as well as in the northern region were being harassed by officers for collecting money in the name of a fund called, ‘Mother India Fund’ for which a bank account was opened in the ICICI Bank and people were being asked to deposit cash in order to avoid any enquiry or survey. The vigilance wing had asked the Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Chandigarh, to get details of the bank account of ‘Mother India Fund’ and all other necessary information related to this fund and the persons operating the account.

When the Vigilance Department received details of the ‘Mother India Fund’ account from Chandigarh, it revealed that almost around Rs 8 crore to Rs 10 crore had been deposited in this account in Ludhiana in a period of about 17 months from June 16, 2003 to November 8, 2004 and as much as Rs 8 lakh to Rs 9 lakh was deposited in cash in some entries. The Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax Department, Saxena, who was arrested at Ludhiana, was known to be the right-hand man of the senior officer based at Chandigarh who was allegedly the real beneficiary and was in a position to twist the arms of businessmen. The lawyer, Shelly, was very close to this officer who was earlier posted at Ludhiana for about seven years.

The investigations into the ‘Mother India Fund’ have revealed that it had its headquarters as mentioned in their cards of the ICICI Bank as F-4/2A, DLF Phase-I, Gurgaon, Haryana. The account was opened in the ICICI Bank, Jandu Towers, Miller Ganj, Ludhiana.

The details of deposits and withdrawls are revealing. In seven months there have been as many as 81 entries of cash deposits, out of which 22 are of the deposits of more than Rs 2.5 lakh each. There is one entry of Rs 9 lakh, two entries of Rs 8 lakh each, 4 entries of Rs 5 lakh each, two entries of Rs 4 lakh each, 13 entries of over Rs 2 lakh each. The remaining entries are mostly of Rs 2 lakh and 1 lakh.

The investigations show that most of the amount has been transferred to the account of Agni Productions of which there are 74 entries and some entries of money transfer are to one auto company. An interesting feature is that as soon as some money is accumulated in the ‘Mother India Fund’, the money is immediately transferred to the Agni Productions account and some other account leaving a few thousand rupees in the account.

The main suspect in this investigation was holding a very important post at Chandigarh and was recently transferred following complaints. This senior officer had been having long political arms and always escaped enquiries. Even now he was using a central minister to pressurise the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, to get his transfer cancelled. But ultimately he had to leave. This officer had been having special interest in Ludhiana, the biggest industrial town in the region. Last year he was pressurising Mr Chidambaram through his political connections to get his Chandigarh office shifted to Ludhiana and to retain his house. But he could not succeed and he had to vacate his Ludhiana house after many months having occupied it even after his posting to Chandigarh. The CBI is pinning hopes on the interrogation of Assistant Commissioner Saxena to reveal the facts.

According to RBI guidelines, no bank is permitted to have cash deposits of more than Rs 50,000 and if the cash deposit is for more than Rs 50,000, the depositor has to give the permanent account number (PAN) along with the deposit. The ICICI Bank, Ludhiana branch, will have to explain all this to the CBI and also identify those who made these deposits and if the bank fails to do so, the complicity of the bank staff, particularly the manager will be proved in this scam.

The CBI during the raids at Ludhiana at the house of Mr Saxena found huge details of properties and recovered cash. He is in police remand and his interrogation will make further sensational revelations. Besides, the questioning of lawyer Shelly will also help the CBI in unmasking the hidden wealth. Shelly is known to have close relations with the income tax officers.