IT raids at 8 places in city, huge haul of cash, gold seized

CHENNAI:  In a major haul post-demonetisation, officials of the Income-Tax department today conducted  raids in the residential and office premises of jewellery  shop owners and a hotel and seized Rs 90 crore, including  Rs 70 crore cash in new Rs 2,000 currencies and 100 kg of gold.

IT sources said multiple teams of IT officials conducted  the raids at the premises of businessmen Shekar Redy,  Srinivas Reddy and Prem to flush out the black money  stocked in the form of new currencies and gold.

The raids were held at eight places in the city, including at the posh Annanagar and upmarket T.Nagar areas, where  they have their residential and office premises and also at  a hotel in T.Nagar, from where cash and gold were seized  from a room.

The searches, which began around noon, were expected  to continue till late in the evening.

Some incriminating documents were also seized during  the raids, the sources said.

The raids were conducted following information that these businessmen had allegedly converted the demonetised  Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currencies as gold and new legal  tender notes of Rs 2,000.

The were also being questioned to ascertain whether  they were part of any money laundering or money exchange  racket or agents of some bigwigs.

(AGENCIES)