ED raids Hasan Ali CA's residence, office

The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday carried out searches at the Pune residence as also the office of Sunil Shinde, the chartered accountant of businessman Hasan Ali Khan, who is facing charges of money laundering and tax evasion.

The searches conducted by about 10 to 12 officers started on Wednesday morning at his residence at Heramb Society and went on till evening.

According to ED sources, they have seized some papers pertaining to income tax returns of Khan and a computer hard disk from Shinde's house.

The disk contained data of accounts of Hasan Ali Khan from 2001 to 2009. They also checked his four cars including two Mercedes Benz.

Shinde told PTI that the ED should not have taken the papers pertaining to the income tax of his client. "It is against professional ethics", Shinde said adding, that his wife and two daughters were alone when ED sleuths came to his house.

"No lady officer accompanied the ED team, if they did not have any lady officer they should have reported to the police station and should have arranged for a lady officer from the police station", he said.

Shinde was in Mumbai on Wednesday at the Income Tax Tribunal for the hearing of alleged tax evasion case of Hasan Ali.

However, he went back to Pune after learning about the raids. "The ED officers have called me tomorrow at their office in Mumbai at 11 am for further investigation", Shinde added.

When asked why Hasan Ali did not pay the income tax for so many years, Shinde said, "Hasan Ali approached me in 2007. I don't know about the earlier years. After 2007, I have paid the taxes accordingly."