The sleuths of the Income Tax Department in an early morning swoop on Wednesday raided the homes and offices of well-known contractors of Mhow and Indore after they stumbled upon incriminating documents showing tax evasion to the tune of crores of rupees. The raids were carried out following complaints of tax evasion against them, informed Income Tax department officials.
A team of around 100 officials conducted the raids at the Mhow and Indore residences of three contractors - Puneet Agarwal, Shailendra Singhal, Ashish Agrawal–on Wednesday morning. The entire operation was carried out simultaneously by IT officials at six premises of all the three road construction contractors who are said to be
relatives. The IT officials raided the house of Puneet Agarwal, considered to be a close confidante of Urban Administration and Development (UAD) Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya, at Mall Road Bangalow No. 76 in Mhow.
Puneet is said to be a top leading contractor of the state owning Path India limited, which is currently charging tolls on MR-10 bridge.
Similarly, a separate team of the IT officials on Wednesday morning raided residence and official premises of a well-known city contractor PD Agarwal at 23, Jai Builder Niwas Rani Sati Gate and Tukoganj localities and stumbled upon incriminating contract documents. PD Agrawal also happens to be a partner of Puneet's contract firm.
A separate team of Income Tax sleuths also surveyed residential and official premises of Aashish Agarwal and a Congress leader Shailendra Singhal in Mhow and Indore.
Details of recoveries made by the IT officials were not known till filing this report. However, according to sources, the IT officials were also carrying out surveys on some additional premises to get details of inventories lying in godowns.