An income tax search is underway at the house of Shiromani Akali Dal Dakha MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali since Tuesday morning.
Security personnel sealed Ayali’s house soon after the raid by the income tax officials began around 6am and no one was being allowed to enter or exit the premises.
According to Mani Sharma, the officer on special duty to Ayali, a team of 70 people, including I-T officials and CRPF personnel, simultaneously raided the MLA’s properties, including his farmhouse, offices and apartments.
Ayali’s properties had been raided by the income tax department in 1999, too. “Our work is in the public domain. He (Ayali) had come out clean in the past and even this time, he will be found spotless,” Sharma said.
The 44-year-old MLA, who is into the real estate business, owns a huge chunk of land that is now prime property in the city. Ayali and his two brothers were not available for comment.
Besides Ayali, I-T teams raided the offices of other colonisers in South City and the newly established Sun View residential colony.