I-T dept raids 130 stores of jewellery chain

Income Tax officials on Wednesday raided more than 130 stores of a prominent jewellery chain across the country.

The searches followed doubts about tax evasion and huge cash deposits during demonetisation. Tax sleuths detected huge cash deposits and sale figures of gold, diamond and jewellery in their accounts, sources said. Meanwhile, two other firms, including another jewellery group, were also raided.

The jewellery group has presence in Karnataka, Kerala, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana among others. Several teams of I-T department searched over 130 stores across the cities. An I-T department source in Bengaluru said that several premises in the businesses of hotel, hospitality and food sectors across six cities of Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Indore and Faridabad were raided.

The Chennai wing of the I-T department is coordinating the nationwide action, involving over 100 tax sleuths and a number of police teams, sources said.