I-T department raids wholesale onion dealers across UP

The income tax (I-T) department on Friday raided wholesale onion dealers across Uttar Pradesh in view of sudden spurt in its prices, official sources said in Lucknow.

"The raids were conducted in Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Bareilly, Meerut and other places of the state at main dealers of onion", a senior I-T official said.

In Lucknow, the raid was conducted and three wholesale dealers in Naveen vegetable market at Sitapur road, where the I-T team had to face resistance from local traders, who alleged that they were being unnecessarily harassed in the name of raids.

About the recovery, the official said that they records of stock was being checked by the staff and it would take time to elaborate about it.

The raids came after reports that onion were being sold at exorbitant prices and tax was evaded by the dealers to make profits, sources said.