I-T raids on 21 premises of Varanasi company

LUCKNOW: The Income Tax department on Friday conducted searches against Varanasi-based Agarwal family which owns EcoPlus Cement & Steel and has a host of other business interests as well.

Splitting up into more than a dozen groups, I-T sleuths conducted searches at 21 locations while carrying out simultaneous raids across six states - UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Bengal, Assam and Delhi throughout Friday. Besides visiting the residences of company directors Sujit Agarwal, Bipin Agarwal, Ajay Agarwal and Kamal Agarwal, the sleuths also visited the commercial set ups of Agarwal family which included cement plants in Naxal-affected Kaimur and Khelari in Jharkhand. An I-T officer said the company sought illegitimate long-term capital gains by fudging books to the tune of Rs 11.74 crore, allegedly in 2014 and 2015.

I-T officials would go through the financial dealings of directors of the company engaged in manufacturing cement, sponge iron, TMT bars, polybags and solvent. The company landed under the I-T scanner since it kept showing losses or nominal income while paying taxes under certain sections.