The Income Tax Department on Tuesday gave a clean chit to Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Prasad Yadav and his wife, Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi, on the expenses incurred for the marriage of their daughter Misa Bharti.

According to Director General (Investigation) of Income Tax, Patna, Ashutosh Singh Thakur, "The department recently accepted the claim of Laloo and Rabri that only Rs 800,000 was spent on the marriage of their eldest daughter after the assessment for the financial year 2000-2001."

Inquiry Officer Madhukar Kumar Bhagat, in his order on their I-T returns for the assessment year 2000-2001, noted,  "No evidence to corroborate allegations pertaining to extravagant expenses on hospitality, catering and other arrangements in the marriage have been found."

The gala marriage held on December 10, 1999, had invited the wrath of the investigative wing of the I-T Department, which instituted an inquiry into the expenses and sent notices to Laloo, Rabri and Misa's father-in-law Ram Babu Pathik on December 15, 1999.

Sources close to Laloo said he replied to the department saying he and his wife had spent around Rs 300,000 to 400,000 from their pocket and the rest of the expenses were taken care of by the RJD activists.

Thakur said the department accepted the amounts quoted as the income of Laloo and Rabri during the financial year 2000-2001.

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What do you think about the story? Read what others have to say: Number of User Comments: 6 Sub: rampant corruption really sad state of affairs-is India a democracy or is ruled by thiefs -its all in the open,in front of the nation but nothing is ... Posted by ritu Sub: Thief has absolved the thief It an irony though not a surprise that the IT deaprtment has absolved a politician of extravagant expenses. It is a shame on us that ... Posted by Dr. Vijay K Gupta Sub: funny.............. well its a bit funny when laloo says he n his wife spent money from their pockets once hez out of that power everyone will ... Posted by praveen Sub: IT Clearance for Laloo This could be the joke of the year. Posted by subbu Sub: Thieves ot thief? How come IT is only interested in Laloo? What about lavish/extravaganza of so many other chief ministers or prime ministers? Where is IT's so called ... Posted by Rajeev