By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 24 Nov: Income Tax raids were carried out on the premises and locations of around 50 businessmen in Doon today. As soon as several teams of Income Tax officers reached Dehradun from New Delhi early morning, today, a stir resulted in the business community here. The teams of the Income Tax officials also sought assistance of a large police force after reaching here. The Police had not been informed in advance to prevent any leakage of information.
To begin with, several vehicles of the Income Tax Department reached Dehradun’s Nashville Road one after the other this morning. A crowd gathered around at the arrival of such a large number of vehicles. The houses of many investors and industrialists have been raided. Among the locations raided today were also the properties of Manjit Johar, owner of the famous MJ Residency Hotel. Most of the businessmen raided today were property dealers.
The Income Tax Department has raided more than three dozen locations of property dealers in Dehradun, Rishikesh, Delhi and Saharanpur. Raids went on for several hours at the offices and houses of Dehradun property dealers Manjit Johar, Raj Lumba, Mehta Brothers, N Bhatia, Naveen Kumar Mittal and Mitin Gupta. The raids in Dehradun were led by Additional Director of Income Tax Department Thakur Mapwal and Deputy Director Ritesh Bhatt. Departmental officials refused to divulge any information regarding the raid, while speaking to the media gathered outside the locations.
A raid was also conducted at the fancy wool seller Vijay Tandon’s house in Nashville Road. Sources meanwhile claimed that most of those who were raided today were directly or indirectly linked with Manjit Johar. The team also reached Raj Lumba’s house Race Course. Apart from owning hotels and other properties in the state, Manjit Johar is engaged in the mining business. Manjit’s name has also cropped up several times in illegal mining. A total of 50 people were said to be raided today. In Rishikesh, too, the Income Tax Department has raided the hotel of builder and hotelier Manjit Johar on Railway Road.
