More trouble for Gadkari, I-T report says most of Purti's companies had fake addresses

Mumbai: The Mumbai Income Tax department has shared its preliminary investigation report on BJP President Nitin Gadkari's Purti Group with the Pune Income Tax DG and Kokata Income Tax DG. The preliminary probe has found that most of the companies with registered addresses were fake addresses.

In the course of the field surveys, the officers could not locate books of accounts. The companies were incorporated with minimum capital and there were none or insignificant transactions carried out.

Unaccounted money appears to have come through Nagpur and Kolkata. The IT departments there have the jurisdiction to probe that, which is why the details have been shared with them.

The Mumbai Income Tax department has shared its report on Purti Group with the Pune Income Tax DG and Kolkata Income Tax DG.

Gadkari, meanwhile, continued to enjoy the support of his party and the RSS. RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy, who mediated on behalf of Gadkari following allegations against him of dubious funding by his company Purthi Sugar and Power cropped up, on Wednesday came out in his support saying he is "legally and morally" clear. "Re Gadkari. I examined legal & moral aspect. The 14 questioned cos belong Nagpur group that invested in Purti in 2004 and told IT dept," Gurumurthy, a chartered accountant, tweeted on Wednesday. "So I am convinced that Nitin has legally nothing to do with the 14 questioned cos. Morally he is clear because Nagpur has owned them in 2003/4," he further tweeted.

The BJP leadership also announced its support for Gadkari on Monday at its core group meeting in Delhi. The party has ruled out Gadkari's ouster as BJP President.

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