The Income Tax department conducted multiple raids at several prominent Samajwadi Party leaders' residents and close aides of Akhilesh Yadav.
According to the reports, the residence of Samajwadi Party leader and spokesperson Rajeev Rai were raided by the I-T department on Saturday morning. Meanwhile, another raid has been conducted
at the residence of RCL Group promoter Manoj Yadav.
Mr Yadav is a close confidant of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
Mr Rai's residence in the Mau district of eastern Uttar Pradesh was inspected by a team from the Income Tax Department from Varanasi this morning. He is the owner of a business that operates
a number of educational institutes in Karnataka.
"I don't have a criminal record or any black money. The government didn't like it when I helped people. This is a result of that. If you do anything, they'll record
a video, file an FIR, and you'll waste your time fighting a case that isn't needed," he said while speaking to media outside his residence.
Mr Rai contested for the Ghosi constituency in the Lok Sabha in 2014.
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"Rajeev Rai is the Samajwadi Party's National Secretary and Spokesperson. He is credited with forming the first Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh in 2012 and serves as
the party's media face," according to his official website.
Meanwhile, another close confidant of the former UP CM has been raided in Mainpuri, which is also a stronghold of the Yadav family.
The multiple raids come as Mr Yadav has constantly been criticising BJP ahead of crucial UP assembly elections. The SP leader has slammed BJP over projects just launched by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi in UP. He claims that all of these projects were started during his tenure, however, BJP has said it's just an attempt to take credit with an eye on polls.
According to several analysts, Akhilesh Yadav has emerged as a major threat to the BJP in the next elections in Uttar Pradesh.