Raids have been conducted at Bhopal, Noida, Jaipur and Ahmedabad premises of the Dainik Bhaskar group.
The Income Tax Department on Thursday raided several offices of the Dainik Bhaskar Group in connection with an alleged tax evasion case.
It is being said that the I-T Department conducted searches at the residence of Dainik Bhaskar's owner at 5 am. During this, a large number of CRPF personnel were present there. During the raid, a team of the department was present at the residence of the owner of DB Group, who checked the documents there.
As per reports, raids have been conducted at Bhopal, Noida, Jaipur and Ahmedabad premises of the Dainik Bhaskar group. The search was also conducted at the residences and offices of the promoters of the group as well as a few other employees.
The publication said that mobiles of the employees present in the offices during the raid were confiscated and they were not allowed to go out. Night shift workers were also barred from leaving the office.
The I-T department raids reportedly follow information of tax evasion and alleged cases of related party transactions and instances of round-tripping of funds. The Department suspects that Dainik Bhaskar Group has committed tax evasion through its associate companies. It is worth noting that apart from print and digital media, Dainik Bhaskar Group is also active in many other businesses.
Apart from Bhaskar, raids were also conducted in the office of Bharat Samachar, an Uttar Pradesh-based news channel. Search operations were conducted at its Lucknow office and the editor`s residence. News reports claimed that the raids were based on "evidence of tax fraud" by the channel.
Criticising the government for "using ED and IT as weapons", former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Congress leader Digvijaya Singh took to Twitter and said that income tax officials are present at around 6 premises the group, including its office at Press Complex in Bhopal.
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