24 hours on, I-T raid at residence of Bengal minister's kin continues

Kolkata, March 21 (IANS) The marathon raid and search operation by the Income Tax sleuths at the residence of Swarup Biswas, the younger brother of West Bengal Power and Housing Minister, Aroop Biswas, continued on Thursday, said officials.

The Income Tax sleuths reached his residence at New Alipore in South Kolkata on Wednesday morning and were there till the time the report was filed.

Sources said that since Wednesday morning different teams of Income Tax sleuths were involved in the raids and search operations at six different places, including the residence of Biswas.

A local Trinamool Congress, which was mainly the party office of Biswas’s wife Jui Biswas, a ruling party councillor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, was also raided by the Income Tax sleuths.

The other places where similar raid and search operations were conducted included the offices of some real estate development entities known to be close to Biswas. The names of two such entities which have surfaced are Eden Real Estate and Multicon Real Estate.

Sources said that during the course of the operation, the Income Tax officials have recovered crucial documents from some of the places. The operation is being conducted on the basis of specific clues of major tax defalcations.

However, the Income Tax officials are tight-lipped over the exact links between Biswas and the real estate development agencies that are under scanner. The raiding officials, sources added, had also questioned Biswas for a long time during the course of the raid.