Income Tax department raids 4 Mumbai bullion traders in Zaveri Bazaar

Mumbai: The investigation wing of Income Tax Department has been examining every corner of Zaveri Bazaar- the biggest jewellery market in Mumbai since Thursday searching trails of dirty money, which belonged to four bullion traders.

The income tax department has been conducting raids and surveys in Zaveri Bazaar the biggest jewellery market since Thursday. Nearly 50 jewellers and bullion traders were raided for alleged tax evasion.

Searches continued till Friday evening at four to five locations.According to I-T sources, the department raided four jewellery shops in Zaveri Bazaar and found money trail of at least Rs 600 crore in various banks accounts, which were opened in the names fishermen, slum dwellers, chawl-residents and foreigners.

Sources from IT department said. “Four bullion traders- Chenaji Narsingji, Nakoda Silver, Mandev Bullion and Dev Bullion – had deposited cash amount (old notes) of Rs 500-600 crore in large number of bogus bank accounts. Later, these traders round tripped the entire money back in their own accounts via RTGS – converting into a legal tender.”

The I-T department is also preparing a list of people who bought gold in large quantities from these traders in exchange for old notes. More such raids are expected in the coming days.