ThE Economics Offences Wing (EOW) carried out raid against three different gutka brands in State capital on Friday. Along with this, one gutka company was also raided in Indore. In initial investigation, it came to fore that gutka companies were producing more gutka than the set limit and by doing so they were evading tax of crores of rupees.

It was during dawn of Friday that EOW officials flanked by officers of at least seven other departments, including food department, labour department, power company, GST etc carried out raid against three gutka brands including Rajshree, Kamla Pasand and Black Label.

During raid, at least 10 child labourers were also found and this case has been handed over to Labour Department for

necessary action against the guilty companies. Officers also found that around 500 labourers from Bihar, Jammu and other states were working in polluted environment. Ashoka Garden police is doing verification of labourers who came from outside the State.

“The estimated tax evasion by these three gutka companies is likely to be between Rs 300 crore to Rs 400 crore,” said DG EOW Sushovan Banerjee.

EOW told that these gutka companies were doing tax evasion by doing more production then the set limit.

They were manufacturing gutka pouches against the set limit by using highly modernised machines with 1000-1200 RPM. Food Department was also roped in by EOW to check whether any kind of adulteration has been done by gutka companies. In Indore, raid was carried out against Vimal Gutka Company. When raid was carried out at two companies of Kaypan Food Products in Govindpura industrial area in State capital, EOW officials found gutka and pan masala of Rajshree and Kamla Pasand brands in large number. This stock worth around Rs 5 crore was supposed to be sent to different parts of the country. This is for the first time that EOW carried out raid in connection with tax evasion.