In one of the biggest-ever search and seizure operations undertaken in the past few years in Chhattisgarh, an army of sleuths from the Income Tax Department’s Investigation Wing on early Wednesday covered over 40 premises in five major districts of the mineral-rich state. However, the intensity of searches, which commenced at two different time slots of 6.30 am and 1.50 pm respectively, primarily focused on 31 premises.

Around 200 tax enforcers, reinforced by a contingent of 110 armed troopers of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and divided into odd 43 teams, commenced the massive concurrent search operations spanned over multiple locations in Raipur, Raigarh, Janjgir-Champa, Bilaspur and Korba districts respectively.

While the searches primarily enveloped the factory, office and residential premises of N R Group, a major private steel manufacturer as well as their business associates, the taxmen-led crackdown also brought under the ambit of its wide-operations the kingpin of Chhattisgarh’s major betting syndicate run by JanjgirChampa district based, Arun Agrawal alias ‘Arun Sakti’ along with conduits of his unholy business. Apropos, several other high-profile individuals engaged in diversified businesses of real estate, tendupatta, rice-milling and coal transporters also came under the tax enforcers’ scrutiny. “Principal Director-Investigation (Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh) PDIT Abhay Singh was overseeing the entire proceedings of operations along with his team of senior IRS officials including Additional Director-Investigation (ADIT) Rituparn Namdev with two Deputy Directors and Assistant Directors each. Almost the entire strength of taxmen from Investigation Wings of Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Raipur, Durg and Bilaspur were roped in to cover the length and breadth of the search operations, spread vastly in terms of geography and jurisdiction. Most importantly, the duration of search may go well beyond 3 days since there is lot to scrutinize and process before arriving on quantification of the evasion,” knowledgeable sources told The Hitavada requesting anonymity. However, according to the sources, the preliminary estimates, based on the incriminating findings on the day-one of search ops, which included seizure of heaps of loose papers of pertaining with dubious transactions leading to the pile up of unaccounted income, indicates that the evasion may exceed the mark of over Rs 100 crores. “Cash and valuables, worth crores found during the operations, were being meticulously looked into by the tax investigators for its

legitimate source and possession by all the individuals covered under the searches, including their family members and business associates,” the sources maintained. Sources further said that the Raigarh-based NR Group, owned and primarily promoted by Rajesh Kumar Agrawal, Sanjay Kumar Agrawal and Subham Agrawal respectively, was facing the full onslaught of tax sleuths investigation as the majority of premises, including factories and residences covered, during the today’s search operations, belonged to them. Directors and promoters of other associate companies were identified as Mohit Kumar Mishra, Anju Agrawal, Mayank Agrawal, Ankit Agrawal, Vijay Kumar Agrawal, Sunil Kumar Jindal, Pawan Kumar Agrawal, Vikas Agrawal and Ravi Kumar Gupta. “Multiple factory and office premises of NR Group namely NR Ispat and Power Limited, Chitrakoot Infonet Private Limited, Unnati Commodeal Private Limited, Eternity Commercial Private Limited, NR Ferro and Power Private Limited, NRVS Steels Limited, NR TMT (India) Private Limited, NR Iron And Power Private Limited, Maa Mahamaya Rolling Mill Private Limited and NR Steel and Ferro Private Limited, were swarming with tax watchdogs and most of these were situated on Near Park Avenue, Jindal Road in Raigarh district. Their palatial residences situated at multiple posh colonies in capital Raipur were also being searched thoroughly and vigorously,” the sources added. Sources also underscored that most of the NR Group and its associate companies are primarily involved in manufacture of iron and steel, while some in other diversified businesses. However, few of their companies were also found to be shell entities as they merely existed on papers, they pointed out.

On the other hand, Chhattisgarh’s biggest betting syndicate owner Arun Agrawal aka Arun Sakti, who operates from Sakti Tehsil of Janjgir-Champa district, also came under the tax enforcers and so did his family members and business conduits. “His multiple premises including residence, office and a plush jewellery showroom were also being searched,” the sources added. Similarly, in Bilaspur and Korba, premises of former Nagar Panchayat President Shyam Sunder Agrawal, Jagdish Bansal, Bajrang Agrawal and Mahaveer Agtawal were also being searched.