Sleuths from the Income Tax Department conducted simultaneous raids at over 30 locations linked to real estate major Embassy Group in Bengaluru, Gurugram, and Mumbai, on Wednesday.
The raids reportedly come in the backdrop of the proposed merger of Indiabulls Real Estate and Embassy Group, which is in its final stages. If it goes through, the resulting entity will become one of the largest listed real estate firms in the country, industry sources said.
Income Tax officials launched simultaneous search and seizure operations across three metro cities in the morning and covered the residences of directors of Embassy Group – chairman and managing director Jitu Virwani and director Narpat Singh Choraria in Bengaluru, and eight corporate offices belonging to the group in Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Gurugram, sources said. Offices of several other firms associated with the two real estate majors were also searched, said sources.
Income Tax officials of the Karnataka and Goa circle, who led the search and seizure operations, were tight-lipped and did not respond to any queries on the raids.
Embassy Group termed the tax raids “a routine income tax inquiry”. “Embassy Group has always acted and will continue to act in accordance with the provisions of all applicable laws and regulations while maintaining the highest standards of corporate governance. We have extended our complete compliance to the relevant authorities. We would like to assure our stakeholders that business continues as usual,” the group said in a statement.
Both Embassy Office Parks REIT and Indiabulls Real Estate stocks were in the red on Wednesday, following the raids on the groups, ahead of the final leg of their merger.
