Ahmedabad: The Income Tax Department has continued to conduct raids on Chiral Group of Companies and residences of chairman Vedprakash Chiripal, Jyoti Prakash Chiripal, Brijmohan Chiripal, Vishal Chiripal, Ronak Chiripal and Dipak Chiripal. The raids will continue till Wednesday. Sacks full of documents have been seized from the offices of the Chiripal group of companies. The IT Department has started investigating these documents.

AS many as Rs 25 crores in cash, 10 crores worth of jewelry, 25 bank lockers and 1.5 lakh US dollars have been found during these raids till now.

The turnover figure of every company of the Chiripal group is being cross verified with the figures shown in the IT return. The raids are continuing and action is likely to be taken against the Chiripal Group under the Black Money Act.

The IT Department had initiated raids on the Chiripal group of companies and its associate companies on the previous Wednesday. After conducting raids on Asian Granito and conducting a search operation at the residences of Sejal Shah associated with it and brokers last month, this is a second mega search operation targeting the Chiripal group of companies that has led to the seizure of documents indicative of income tax evasion on a large scale.

The investigation has begun at the residences of many of the group’s directors. The presence of offices and properties in Dubai has come to light. As many as 150 officers of the Income Tax Department under heavy SRP deployment raided Chiripal House, the registered office of the group, at Shivranjani crossroads and another new office developed in Bopal by the name of Shanti Corporate Office. The raids have revealed on-money sale deeds, and financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 500 crore in procurement and sales bills, which cannot be accounted for.

Most of the companies of the group are run from the registered office of Chiripal Group at Shivranjani crossroads. A team of the Income Tax Department conducted searches at residences in Bopal and Ambli, at Nandan Denim Textile located at Dholka, Bareja, and Pirana-Piplaj road while the plant at Bareja was also raided. Tax evasion to the tune of crores of rupees has been exposed. They have also developed a residential scheme by the name of Shanti Botanica in Gandhinagar. Various fabrics and products are exported to countries such as Dubai, Singapore, Korea, and Sri Lanka, details of which have also been seized during the raids.

The documents related to investments made in land parcels have also been seized. However, more information was difficult to be extracted as the investigation is still going on. The Income Tax department suspects large-scale diversion of black money to foreign shores. The IT- Department has also managed to lay its hands on details about all bank accounts in foreign countries.

DeshGujarat