I-T dept carries out daylong raids at premises linked to ex-Trinamool MLA

Kolkata: The Income Tax (I-T) department conducted daylong raids in at least seven locations in different parts of West Bengal on Wednesday.

As per sources, the raids were mainly conducted in the industrial-cum-coal belts of Asansol, Raniganj and Durgapur in West Burdwan district.

The raided premises included the residence and office of former Trinamool Congress legislator from Raniganj, Sohrab Ali, an iron scrap trader by profession. His wife Nargis Bano is a Trinamool councillor in the Asansol Municipal Corporation.

The raids, according to sources, were conducted in connection with tax evasion as well as disproportionate assets to declared income.

Sources said that Sohrab Ali, who has virtually monopolised the scrap iron business in the area over the years, has been accused of massive tax evasion.

The I-T officials are also examining his investments in a lavish shopping mall in the area.

Ali got elected from Raniganj on a Trinamool ticket in 2011, the year the current regime came to power by ending the 34-year Left Front rule. However, he was denied re-nomination in 2016, and since then he has been focusing on his business.

In 1995 during the previous Left Front regime, Ali’s name got had entangled in an FIR relating to illegal iron scrap business.