The sleuths of the Income Tax Department on Monday raided the offices and residence of controversial businessman Faris Aboobacker in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka as part of the probe into alleged tax evasion and black money hoarding behind real estate deals by his companies.
The Income Tax Department has hinted that political connections, real estate and black money transactions are under investigation.
It is learnt that the Income Tax department is carrying out the raids after conducting a preliminary probe into the business activities of Faris. The probe revealed that Faris has stakes in 92 companies operating in various parts of the country. The raids started simultaneously at around 8 am in Kochi, Koyilandy, Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai.
“It was found that Faris registered land in the name of various firms with NRIs at the helm to evade tax. The money transactions for these land deals were carried out abroad. Even for the registration, the minimal value of the land is recorded in the document. A huge tax amount has been evaded through this operation. Even most of the firms to which land was sold are suspected to be benamis of Faris,” income Tax sources said.
In the wake of the transactions with Faris, the Income Tax officials also inspected the offices and establishments of Shobha Developers in Trissur.
Faris’s name has been mentioned many times in controversies related to the CPI-M in Kerala. Most of this was during factionalism in the CPI-M.Criticism was also raised against some top leaders of having a close relationship with him.