I-T raids on Ludhiana realtors continue; Rs 1 crore cash seized

The investigation wing of the income-tax department continued the raids on 40 premises of three realtors and their associates on Thursday. Taxmen had completed the probe at the majority of the locations by the evening. Though I-T officials remain tight-lipped about the operation, sources said more than Rs 1 crore cash has been recovered in these raids so far. The raids, which started on Wednesday, were conducted on residences, offices, shopping malls and even clubs located in the city. The properties where the investigation is still going on included a mall, a hotel near Mata Rani Chowk and two commercial properties, one of which is located in Field Ganj. Sources said besides the cash, the department has also seized hundreds of registries of sale purchase of properties by the realtors and their associates who are more property dealers and investors. The scrutiny of these registries is being done by the department to ascertain how many properties were purchased or sold by using black money and who were the real beneficiaries. Additional director of income-tax Ritesh Parmar could not be contacted despite numerous attempts. Sources said the department has also got hold of dozens of ‘byanas’ (sale agreement of property) of several properties whose registry was yet to be done, but sellers had made part payments to the buyers. Sources also said the department sleuths have also seized several computers, hard discs, pen drives during the entire operation and are trying to recover any data that may have been deleted by the owners of these computers.