New Delhi: BJP spokesperson Suresh Nakhua on Thursday targeted media baron Raghav Bahl for allegedly evading income tax in multiple cases. 
 
The Income Tax Department on Thursday conducted searches on the residences and offices of Bahl, founder of media website The Quint, for alleged tax evasion on the proceeds of the sale of shares in a company. 
 
In a series of tweets with official documents, Nakhua said Bahl was a habitual offender and evaded tax worth Rs 1+ crore and then got it reduced to mere Rs 53,000 because of his influential connections.
 
As per the documents tweeted by him, the initial pending tax amount was Rs 17,998,635. Besides, the income tax department had levied a penalty of Rs 10,730,838.
 

The Income tax department today said that the visit to Bahl’s residence and office was  a ‘survey’ under Section 133a of the IT Act, and not a search or a raid. 
“Today, the Income Tax Department conducted searches on the premises of four businessmen,” the Income Tax Department spokesperson told The Hindu. 
“We are looking at a possible tax evasion of more than Rs. 100 crore in the case of Mr. Bahl himself on account of some long-term capital gains that have accrued to him through the sale of shares of a particular company,” he added. 
 
Bahl is a serial media entrepreneur and is best known for his ownership in TV18 India. He was the Founding/Controlling Shareholder & Managing Director of Network18 Group until the takeover by Reliance Industries Ltd.
 
Bahl founded Quintillion Media Pvt Ltd with his wife Ritu Kapur after their exit from Network 18. He has signed a joint venture agreement with Bloomberg LP to launch BloombergQuint.
Following the visits, Bahl issued a statement to the Editor's Guild, saying: "I have a matter of great concern to share with the Guild. While I was in Mumbai this morning, dozens of IT officials descended on my residence and The Quint's office for a 'survey'."
 

Earlier, Bahl’s name appeared in the INX media scam. INX Media and Network 18 allegedly bribed Karti Chidambaram for getting FIPB approvals in 2008. At that time, INX Media was co-owned by Peter Mukherjee, and Network 18 was controlled by Raghav Bahl. 
Sources said Bahl’s Network18 allegedly allotted 60 lakh shares of its London company, Artevea Digital UK Limited to Karti’s firm. But Bahl had refused to comment on his allegations. 
On Thursday, the Enforcement Directorate has reportedly attached properties and bank deposits of Karti worth around Rs 54 crores in INX Media case.