Guj: I-T dept conducts searches at premises of real estate firm

The Income Tax department in Gujarat on Wednesday launched a search and seizure operation at the premises of media and real estate company Sambhaav Group and two brokers associated with the firm, a senior official said here.

A team of 100 I-T officials initiated the search and seizure operation at 20 premises, including residences of key people associated with the real estate arm of Sambhaav Group and two real estate brokers - Yogesh Pujara and Dipak Thakkar, the official said.

The searches, which were initiated around 6 am in different parts of the city, are expected to continue for a couple of more days, he said, adding that the searches are being conducted to detect tax evasion, if any.

Sambhaav Group, which is also in the media and publishing business, runs a Gujarati news channel, but the operation is restricted to the company's real estate business. As per the company's website, its real estate arm - Nila Infrastructure Ltd - is the ''flagship unit of the Sambhaav Group of Companies''.

Sambhaav Group's media portfolio includes Gujarati news channel VTV NEWS, Abhiyan magazine, evening newspaper Sambhaav Metro and radio station TOP FM. The present channel head Hemant Golani claimed that ''raids'' are also being conducted in the premises of VTV NEWS.

Earlier in July, the I-T department had conducted searches at the city-based headquarters of Gujarat's leading newspaper Divya Bhaskar, owned by Daink Bhaskar group.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)