Gurdeep Singh Chadha, better known as Ponty Chadha, liquor baron of Uttar Pradesh was caught in a muddle yesterday as the Income Tax department raided about 25 of his properties in UP and Delhi. Chadha is known to be a close accomplice of UP chief minister Mayawati, and all the cash seized was supposed to be injected in the campaign for the upcoming elections in the state. Ponty has a huge empire and has Business in fields like Liquor, Real Estate, Sugar Mills,Distribution Rights of Movies,Malls and Multiplexes. And if reports are to be believed the I-T department had to penetrate three levels of high security walls through a gas cutter before extracting 125 cr of hard cash from a vault built in the basement of his Noida’s Centerstage mall.
The raid was held on the pretext of Ponty charging Rs 20 more on M.R.P. of all the liquor sold in his shops, but the real reason behind it is alleged to be suffocating and cutting all the lines of cash supply to Mayawati. The raids 
started in morning progressed late till the evening, although Ponty is accused of having Property’s in Punjab Uttarakhand and many other states, but due to shortage of I-T officials his Properties only in Lucknow,Moradabad,Noida and Delhi were raided on Wednesday. There are also allegations that some of money has money has flown from Abroad in Chadha’s business,running under the name of Wave Inc. . The center of attraction was his 13- acre farmhouse in Chattarpur, Delhi which neighbors say is not utilized for residence purpose, so imagination can be easily ran wild over what he is hiding in there, and how much money he is sucking out of the Economy.
Chadha’s close associates Lalit Kapoor and Gurjeet kochhar’s premises were also searched. The raid just before the assembly elections is seen as a big jolt for BSP and might just have big impact in the formation of future Government in Uttar Pradesh.
