Wrap-up: Day of accountability unfolds for Karti, Lalu

Law enforcement agencies on Tuesday raided the residences and properties of two top opposition leaders P Chidambaram of the Congress and Lalu Prasad of the RJD as well as businessmen in a multi-city crackdown on alleged corruption and benami properties.

The searches by the CBI and the Income-Tax (I-T) department were condemned by the opposition as “political vendetta” by the Centre with the Congress saying it will not be cowed down by the politics of “revenge” which was the “DNA of the government.”

But the NDA government hit back, saying today was the day of accountability for the “corrupt.”

The CBI searched the homes and offices of Karti Chidambaram, son of P. Chidambaram, a former finance minister, across four cities including Chennai for allegedly receiving money from a media firm INX owned by Indrani and Peter Mukerjea to allegedly manipulate a tax probe.

Separately, the Income Tax department conducted raids and surveys on as many as 22 locations in  the national capital and adjoining areas in connection with alleged benami deals stated to be worth Rs 1,000 crore linked to Lalu Prasad, who is the chief of Rashtriya Janata Dal.