Ludhiana, February 5
As many as 50 officials of the intelligence wing of the Central Excise department conducted surprise raids at the production unit of Aarti Steels Ltd in Industrial Area. Simultaneous raids were conducted at the residential premises of the owners in the Gurdev Nagar area also.
The raiding officials had reportedly come from New Delhi. Although the officials refused to divulge any details, but they said, there were some intelligence inputs that the company was evading the duty on a large scale. They said, they would be corroborating the details furnished by the company and those found by them during the raids.
Aarti Steel is one of the leading and respected industrial houses of Ludhiana with a huge turnover running into hundreds of crores of rupees. It has a strong distribution network through out the country. It was learnt that the raids were also conducted at Ambala and Delhi offices of the company.
The raiding officials stayed here till late in the night. They reportedly checked the relevant records and other details concerning the production, stocks and sales of the company. The raiding officials also took along some documents. It was learnt that the officials were corroborating the details with those already furnished by the company.
Today’s raids on the Aarti Steel have come as a shock to the industrial houses as most of them are known to be enjoying a clean image besides maintaining a transparent record. However, the excise officials revealed that the department was feeling quite concerned over the continuously falling revenue collections. With the result the department is learnt to have identified some potential targets where it expected to get some revenue.
The excise officials did not rule out more such raids. It has already conducted several raids so far. However, industrial circles have criticised such an attempt by the department as it claimed, the department was dealing with the industrialists as if they were criminals.
