I-T raids on shell company groups in Tamil Nadu

Chennai: Income-Tax sleuths on Tuesday swooped down on 33 premises across Tamil Nadu, including 21 in Chennai, belonging to four companies for suspected tax evasion and their links to shell companies.

I-T officials said Tuesday’s searches were not linked to the raids on the family and relatives of Sasikala and Dhinakaran.

Premises belonging to four companies -- Patel Group, Marg Group, Milan Group and Ganga Foundations Group - were searched in Chennai, Madurai and other cities in Tamil Nadu, I-T sources said.

The sources said these four companies are alleged to own lot of shell companies and the raids were conducted to unearth documents related to these irregularities.

“They (assessee groups) are suspected to be involved in shell companies and tax evasion. The searches were launched on the basis of information the income-tax department received on the shell companies and data following demonetisation last year,” the source said.

The I-T department's raids are part of its 'Operation Clean Money' launched in the aftermath of demonetisation last year. During the raids at premises belonging to Sasikala family, the I-T sleuths had recovered tax evasion to the tune of '1,430 crore.