The Income Tax (I-T) Department sleuths, on Wednesday, conducted raids at 17 locations in the city, targeting 10 ‘hawala’ and ‘dabba’ traders. A special team of about 200 officers and staff of the Income Tax Department from Mumbai conducted the raids on L7 Group of Companies in the city along with offices and residences of ‘dabba’ trader Ravi Agarwal, ‘hawala’ traders Gopu Malu, Lala Jain, Paras Jain, Shailesh Lakhotia, Israel Seth, Hemant Tanna, Karni Thawrani, Pyare Khan, Chartered Accountant Ravi Wankhede. The raids were conducted on ‘hawala’ and ‘dabba’ traders at Lakadganj, Telephone Exchange Square, Wardhaman Nagar, Garoba Maidan, Medical Square and other parts of the city. Interestingly, the officers of the Income Tax Department from Nagpur were not part of the raids. A team from Mumbai arrived in the city on Tuesday night. The I-T team from Mumbai started the raids on Wednesday morning. The action continued till late evening.

Sources said that the officers seized cash and documents. The Income Tax sleuths are likely to continue the raids even on Thursday, they added. It is important to note that Ravi Agarwal is Chairman of L7 Group of Companies who also owns the plush wedding destination Chattarpur Farms. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch also had conducted raids on Ravi Agarwal’s L7 Group in the year 2016. The raids were conducted at several places, including the premises of L7 Group at Telephone Exchange Square. Billionaire Pyare Khan is Chairman of Nagpur-based Tajbagh Trust, and had spent around Rs 1 crore for procuring oxygen tankers, oxygen concentrators and cylinders during Covid-19 pandemic. Illegal and fraudulent monetary transactions through banking and non-banking channels are called ‘Hawala’ trade.

‘Dabba’ trading is an illegal form of trading in shares. ‘Dabba’ trading is an informal trading that takes place outside the purview of the stock exchanges. ‘Dabba’ trading rings allow people to trade in equities outside the stock exchange platform. While the senior officers of the Income Tax Department, Nagpur remained tight-lipped over the raids, sources told The Hitavada that the raids were conducted simultaneously on a group of ‘hawala’ and ‘dabba’ traders based in Mumbai and Nagpur.