Ahmedabad: I-T department carries out major search across 26 premises of Popular Builders; seizes 14 lockers

AHMEDABAD: The Income Tax (I-T) department on Thursday carried out a major search operation across 26 premises belonging to city-based Popular Builders and those associated with the management. The search continued till late evening as the officials made inventory of the seized documents and valuables.
The Patel family associated with Popular Builders was recently in the news as Raman Patel and his son Monang were accused of domestic violence. Sources close to the development said that the group had amassed a huge land bank in and around Ahmedabad and the group was on the department’s radar for some time.

It was the first major operation by the state I-T department post Covid-19 lockdown. “All the officers directly involved in the search of premises were provided PPE kits, their temperature measured, and social distancing was maintained under watchful eyes of the senior officers. It meant use of more resources such as vehicles, but the SOP would become the norm for the future search and surveys,” said a senior I-T department official.
While the officials refused to divulge the amount of cash and jewellery seized from various premises, the officials said that they got details of 14 lockers in different banks which are sealed for further probe.
“Earlier, the search was initiated at 24 locations – 18 residential premises and six offices – associated with the top management. We then got details on Bharat Patel, who works with the firm. His flat was searched when we got the location of a secret apartment on the same premises. The apartment – belonging to him – fetched a large number of documents associated with the group’s financial transactions,” said an official close to the development.
A senior official mentioned that the group has 80-odd companies. The firms’ transactions of past few years would be under scanner to check for any discrepancies as the books of accounts would also be under scanner to match with the official submission with the I-T department.
Some of the firms associated with Popular Builders Group include Popular Estate Management Ltd, Popular Club and Resorts Ltd, Popular Realty Pvt Ltd, Pioneer Infra Pvt Ltd, Savan Farms Pvt Ltd, Dashrath Farms Pvt Ltd, Sholay Farms Pvt Ltd, Shalimar Farms Pvt Ltd, Shaandar Farms Pvt Ltd, Sheetal Farms Pvt Ltd, Shiva Farms Pvt Ltd among others.
Officers and personnel from Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara were roped in for the major drive that started from early Thursday morning simultaneously across 20-plus premises so as not to give time for cover-up to the construction majors. A total of 27 teams consisting of about 150 officers and personnel were involved in the operation. A couple of teams were roped in just to make inventory of the documents found from an apartment.