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.