LUCKNOW: Premises of liquor baron and businessman Ponty Chadha were raided by the Income Tax Department for the second day on Thursday in UP and Delhi for suspected tax evasion during which a number of documents and computer peripherals were seized. The I-T teams, according to sources, have
spread to two new locations in South Delhi for searching the premises belonging to Chadha's associates.
A late night operation by a team of 20 officials armed with counting machines and gas cutters at the basement of Centrestage Mall in Noida on the outskirts of Delhi did not yield any large seizure of cash, top sources in the department said.
I-T officials however declined to hazard any guess on the possible amount that has been seized till now from the searches as the operations are spread across various locations amidst reports that over Rs.100 crore has been seized.
"Some documents and computer hardware have been taken into possession and are under inspection," sources said.
Some premises of international payment dealers in the national capital are also under the scanner of the department as it suspects money being routed from locations in Dubai and few western countries with regard to this case.
Yesterday, searches were conducted in Delhi at 13 locations including at the posh Sainik Farms, Lajpat Nagar, New Freinds Colony while in UP, I-T teams comprising 200 officials, undertook similar operations at six locations in Noida, Moradabad and state capital Lucknow.
Chadha, according to I-T sources, is in Dubai at present in connection with a family function. Neither Chadha, considered to be close to the Mayawati government, nor any of his family members were available for comments.