Acting on information received on several instances of tax evasion, possession of assets disproportionate to sources of income and unaccounted money and others, the vigilance teams of Income Tax Department swooped down on the residences and the farm houses of several Government officers and several establishments, particularly those being run by Dehradun-based builders on Tuesday, a step, taken in tune with the State Government’s commitment to weed out corruption, has left many, including the realtors operating in the city, panicky.
Police sources said that the Income Tax officials had sought forces from the district police early in the morning. The raids started after 8 am, sources said, adding that around a half dozen vigilance teams raided several houses located in Dehradun, Vikasnagar, Selaqui and Rishikesh.
Sources said that the houses thus raided included the farm house of SA Sharma, managing director of Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam. The income tax department officers sealed the house and seized important documents from the house. It has also been learnt that the team members had questioned some persons living in the house. However, whether the documents and the computers seized during the raids would help the IT department to unearth unaccounted-for money is not clear yet.
The vigilance team also conducted raids in the house of a contractor Amit Sharma -who is also a head of a private channel- located in Rishikesh. It has been reported that a 40- member vigilance team comprising members from Kanpur, Dehradun and Delhi conducted raids in the house of Sharma. The team was learnt to have searched the house of Sharma thoroughly and collected some incriminating documents from it.
With the multiple raids, conducted around the same time, having triggered panic among the builders and senior government officials inclined to hide properties to dodge taxes, the IT personnel, however, have chosen to remain tight-lipped while conducting the raids.
A Dehradun –based police officer said that they had deputed around dozen policemen, including two sub-inspectors, after the IT officials had sought security for them. The raids were on while the report was being filed.