Sleuths from Income Tax Department’s Investigation Wing on early Wednesday morning carried out a massive search operation on multiple premises of Navneet Gupta in Raipur and Durg districts of Chhattisgarh, apart from enveloping few other premises operated by his business partners in New Delhi. The swoop-in was consequential to massive search operations carried out by Delhi-based tax investigators on February 27, 2020, wherein Income Tax Department had covered a group of high-profile individuals, hawala trader, liquor businessmen and some senior most bureaucrats of Chhattisgarh Government. Unconfirmed reports also stated that searches were also carried out in Indore and Nagpur, but there was no official corroboration to this. Navneet Gupta, apart from engaged in distillery bottling business, is also involved in industrial constructions and textiles manufacturing.

 

However, Navneet Gupta was out of station, when taxmen swarmed in at his premises, including a plush residential apartment-cum-office at Flat No-406, Grand G.T Exotica Shankar Nagar and M/s Rahul Trading, a godown premise in Kumhari area of Durg district, which shares porous border with capital city. In all, over 14 taxmen supplemented by nearly a dozen policemen took part in the concurrent swoop-in that commenced early morning at 5.45 am. “Though the entire operations were being overseen by Delhi-based top tax brasses, they roped in the requisite manpower from Chhattisgarh Income Tax Department’s Investigation Wing based in Raipur,” highly-placed sources told The Hitavada, requesting total anonymity. While rubbished the social media reports that tax enforcers from Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra were taking in the operations, sources affirmed that two top ranking tax officials from Raipur, Deputy Director Investigation (DDIT) Ashutosh Singh and Assistant Director Tapan Chatterjee, were leading the team of taxmen on the ground.

 

“The whole operation was kept so classified that not even Joint Director (Investigation) Siddhartha Meena in Raipur was aware as to which premises were to be searched and during all this, only the field officers were getting briefing and directives over telephonic from their Delhi counterparts and none of the teams faced any king opposition at both the premises covered under the early swoop-in,” the sources maintained. Moreover, if sources are to be believed, the search action has resulted in unearthing of incriminating evidence revealing various dubious entities and modus-operandi being used for concealing unaccounted income. Evidence of out of the books cash transactions has also been found in heaps of loose papers and other digital evidence seized from two premises.

 

“During the course of search proceedings, as a result of enquiries conducted, cash and jewelleries were also seized from Shankar Nagar-based residential apartment of Navneet Gupta, but it was yet to be quantified,” the sources added. In the meantime, no sooner the news of another major income tax search operation spread like a wildfire, it triggered a panic button among the senior bureaucrats dotting the rank and file of State Administration, particularly Excise Department and they were constantly trying to mine out more information from their individual sources. However, none of them met with any success, thanks to utmost secrecy and discreetness maintained by tax enforcers in their operations. Even those associated with liquor business, including some top players of Chhattisgarh, remained on their toes after they too came to know about the search operations of the Income Tax Department. Sources indicated that the searches will continue for a day or two since Navneet Gupta, who was in Delhi, has been intimated about the operations and the tax authorities have asked him to co-operate with the investigation on a first-come basis by returning to Chhattisgarh immediately.