LUDHIANA: The investigation wing of income-tax department raided five bicycle and parts manufacturing firms and their sister concerns on Thursday. About 30 teams of the department, comprising more than 100 officers, staff and police personnel, conducted raids simultaneously on multiple premises in Industrial Estate, Focal Point, Dhandari Kalan and Kanagwal. They also searched residential premises of company owners across the city, including Model Town, Atam Nagar and Sarabha Nagar areas.
This is perhaps the first time that the I-T department has raided so many firms dealing only in manufacturing of bicycles and parts. Sources said the raids have been conducted for suspected tax evasion and suppression of actual income by some of the firms. In a common link among all the raided firms, majority of them are in the business of manufacturing cycle frames.
Meanwhile, in some locations where raids were going on, the neighbouring factories suspended their operations out of fear. The department remained tightlipped, with officials not divulging any information about the raids or their outcome. A majority of the officials who were part of the raids were from cities like Jalandhar and Mohali. Some of the raided firms and cycle brands were Neelam Cycles and Seth Industrial Corporation, Gurdeep Cycle, Arpan and Gati Cycle, Raka and Willpower Cycle, Vishal Cycle.
