Akhilesh Yadav has claimed that the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh had “mistakenly” raided the house of “its own businessman” Piyush Jain while trying to target Samajwadi Party leader and perfume merchant Pushpraj Jain in Kanpur.

“They had gone there to raid the house of Pushpraj Jain but wrongly entered Piyush Jain’s house in the same neighbourhood. They wanted to target a Samajwadi Party member but mistakenly targeted a BJP financier,” the Samajwadi president and former chief minister told reporters in Unnao.

“By mistake the BJP got its own businessman raided,” he said, denying any link between Piyush Jain and his party and claiming that the call detail record of the businessman’s phone would reveal the names of the BJP leaders “who were in touch with him”.

The Directorate General of GST Intelligence and the income tax department had conducted raids over three days at the homes and business establishments of Piyush Jain in Kanpur and Kannauj and arrested him on Sunday after allegedly seizing Rs 180 crore in cash, 25kg of gold and 259kg of silver.

Pushpraj Jain is a Samajwadi MLC and perfume manufacturer with businesses spread across India and the UAE. Piyush Jain is a producer and supplier of essence for pan masala. They both live in Kanpur city and have business establishments in Kannauj city.

“I challenge the government to make public the sources of the new currency notes recovered from Piyush Jain. I also dare the government to make public the call records of Piyush Jain. It will become clear which politicians had withdrawn the new currency notes from which bank and why they had kept them with Piyush Jain,” Akhilesh said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi broached the issue at a rally after inaugurating the first phase of the Kanpur Metro on Tuesday. “Recently, currency notes stacked in boxes were recovered here. It could be that later they would blame us for it…. However, those who had spread the perfume of corruption across the state have kept their mouths shut... The people of UP are watching everything,” he said.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath had claimed at a rally in Kaushambi on Sunday that Piyush Jain was associated with the Samajwadi Party.

Asked about these, Akhilesh said: “They (the BJP) are liars. I can tell you that their lies will cost them as they are going out and the Samajwadi Party is returning to power in 2022.”