I-T raids 15 locations in crackdown on UP bureaucrats; two IAS officials among those under scanner

The Income Tax department is conducting raids at the premises of four IAS and PCS officers in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, in connection with its probe against them on charges of tax evasion.

Several I-T teams have covered at least 15 premises of the officers in Lucknow, Noida, Greater Noida, Meerut, Baghpat, Mainpuri and Delhi since early morning, I-T officials say.

The officers against whom the action was being taken were IAS officer and Director (Health) Hriday Shankar Tewari, IAS officer and Additional CEO of Greater Noida Authority Vimal Kumar Sharma and his wife and Meerut’s Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Mamta Sharma, and special secretary (prisons) SK Singh.

Apparently, the I-T department suspects that these people have amassed disproportionate assets during the regime of the previous government.

Sources told CNN-News18 that the I-T department had enough information on the officers to carry on the searches. The I-T officials said the department had been investigating charges of tax evasion against them.

The department had carried out similar raids against some other UP bureaucrats last month.

With inputs from PTI