The Income Tax Department on Saturday conducted searches at multiple locations in poll-bound Jharkhand, including on the premises of a person linked to Chief Minister Hemant Soren, as part of a tax evasion probe, official sources said. A total of nine premises in the state's capital Ranchi and Jamshedpur are being raided in an operation that started early morning. A security team of the CRPF is assisting the I-T sleuths, the sources said.The locations linked to Sunil Shrivastava, an aide to the CM, are also being searched, they said.
The action is linked to recent probes launched by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over alleged illegal liquor trade and mining in the state, the sources said.
The assembly elections are scheduled for November 13 and 20, and the counting of votes will take place on November 23.
