In a major search operation, Income Tax sleuths raided as many as 55 establishments of Gwalior-based prominent liquor trader Ramswarup Shivhare in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.

liquor shops belonging to the group in Bhopal, Satna, Indore, Jabalpur and Gwalior were raided this morning. The group is said to be evading tax in large proportions and during initial enquiry, unaccounted stock was detected at several places in the raid, an officer said.

The raids were conducted by the Investigation Wing of the department after receiving complaints of huge tax evasion by the trader.

During the course of the raids, the department sleuths stumbled upon incriminating documents showing tax evasion to the tune of crores of rupees. However, the exact amount of tax evasion would be known only after scrutiny of all documents recovered from the premises of Shivhare Group in Indore and elsewhere in the country.

“We are suspecting that the firms have been carrying on ‘out of books’ liquor production and sale. Illegal liquor trade has been flourishing without hindrance from the liquor barons,” said income tax commissioner KG Goel, adding that the raids were carried out on the associates of Shivhare Groups in Indore and other parts of State, UP, Jhakhand and Bihar.

According to preliminary estimate, the tax evasion by the Group may run into crores of rupees.

Shivhare Group is counted among big liquor barons of Madhya Pradesh. Besides liquor business, the Group is also engaged in the field of education and runs an engineering college - Malwa Institute of Technology, in Indore.

A complaint was also received by the department. According to Income Tax department, lalla and laxminarayan Shivhare own properties worth more than `1,000 cr. In Gwalior and Indore, a toll barier, a flat in Gurgaon, a flat in Mumbai, 1,000 bigha land in Betul, petrol pump in Pune, Indore, Malwa College, Gwalior, a college in Indore, a bar in Hazira and many other property in Delhi, Indore and Gwalior.

The department also carried out action against Malwa Group of Institutions and Sanwaria Group of Companies. Besides, establishments of Pintu Bhatia, proprietor of Malwa Group of Institutions, also were raided by the IT sleuths in another major operation of the day.

In addition, the department has persisted with the action against Sanwaria group raided last month. The department has frozen bank accounts of the group for recovering dues of `8 cr belonging to the fiscal.