I-T raids on Shikhar, Mansi, Infocity

ahmedabad: income-tax authorities on tuesday conducted simultaneous raids at seven premises of the three top real estate developers, including two who were accused of faulty construction in high-rise structures that collapsed during the earthquake. it-sleuths conducted raids at five premises of satish nyalchand, owner of s n builders, one of the promoters of ill-fated shikhar complex which collapsed last year.nyalchand, a sharebroker who had forayed into construction business, had complaints against him for tax evasion. the raiding party found money receipts of cash accepted by the accused for the sale of property. officials also found a diary in watchman''s cabin at nyalchand''s bungalow containing significant information about his financial dealings. "we have also got hold of a bagful of floppy discs. but we have to analyse them to find out if they are sheer junk or contain any incriminating data," an official said. a 65-member strong it team also laid hands on hitendra barot, director of creative infocity project, and searched his two premises including one near thatej roundabout. during its day-long search at barot''s place, the team found incriminating documents indicating tax evasion. also discovered were papers relating to large scale investments and property papers. however, when contacted by tnn, barot denied raids. search and assessment of both the accused was still on. taxmen searched premises of mansi complex builder rajendra vyas and found documents confirming tax evasion. mansi also collapsed in the earthquake. incidentally, barot was staying in a mansi penthouse and had lost his wife in the collapse. the raids will continue on wednesday, a senior official said. the it department has suddenly increased its profile in gujarat in the countdown to the financial year-end. it had launched a massive raid at the premises of rap star devang patel, who never filed a return, last month. simultaneously, officials of the it department had also raided premises connected with gujarat''s film producer director govind patel for concealing income. builders have been the target of it raids this year. jayesh dave of vadodara-based jairaj builders, was ''frisked'' in december 2001.