Income Tax teams survey dry fruit dealer’s offices in Ludhiana, Amritsar

Amritsar/Ludhiana, Oct 28

Suspecting tax evasion, sleuths of the Income Tax Department swooped down at the office of a prominent dry fruit trader at Majith Mandi area here today.

Considered the dry fruit king of the region, his main office is in Amritsar and Ludhiana and branches across Punjab, besides being involved in the import-export trade in California.

The raid during the festival season has led to panic among the trading community in the area — a famous dry fruit market. The Income Tax team landed in Amritsar late last evening and the raid continued till today afternoon. According to information, a simultaneous raid was also conducted at its Ludhiana office today. The firm owner could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

The officials took the sale-purchase record of the firm into possession and also took the details of the retailers and other wholesale traders dealing with the firm. It is learnt that the firm also had his trader in California. The firm owner was considered close to leaders of the SAD-BJP government in the past.

In Ludhiana, panic gripped the Kesar Ganj complex when nearly 15 officials in three vehicles raided the local shop-cum-office of the dealer. The raids have been conducted on two leading dry fruit dealers, one of whom is based in Delhi and Amritsar, while the other one is in Jammu. Their network is spread across Ludhiana, Amritsar, Delhi, UP and Mumbai.

According to sources, the raid is part of multi-state action of the I-T Department on India’s two leading groups engaged in dry fruit imports and trading. The raids have been conducted on the groups as they are suspected of evading tax by suppressing their actual sales and profits. — TNS