Income Tax Raids Laxmi Diamond Group of Surat, 150 Officers Conduct Searches

Surat | Gujarat — The Income Tax Department has launched a comprehensive search operation on the ‘Laxmi Group’ including Laxmi Diamond, owned by the Gajera family, who are well-known industrialists in the diamond city of Surat on Wednesday.  

More than 150 officers, who formed various teams, swooped down on the offices and residences of the Gajera family including Vasant Gajera, Chinu Gajera, and Dhiru Gajera, who are involved in various businesses such as diamonds, education, and real estate. 

Along with this, the business premises, residential houses and various projects of Anil Bagdana and his partners Tarun Bhagat and Pravin Bhoot are being investigated. Following this large-scale operation, there has been a stir in other businessmen and industry of Surat.

There was specific information and information about the group’s real estate deals.Preparations for this operation were going on secretly for the last several days and the teams reached the designated locations early on Wednesday morning. The main focus of the investigation is all the transactions related to real estate of the Laxmi group. 

The DDI wing of the Income Tax Department had specific information and information about the real estate deals of this group in advance, based on which the documents are currently being verified.

Questioning of all members of the Gajera family

Questioning of all the family members, including the main partners of the Gajera family Vasant Gajera, Chinu Gajera and Dhiru Gajera, and a deep investigation of their financial transactions have been started. In addition, the IT department has also extended the investigation into the latest ‘hawala network’ connections.

Dhiru Gajera has been targeting BJP on social media for a long time. This IT raid has also created a political heat, as Dhiru Gajera of the Gajera family is known for his political leanings. After being in BJP earlier, he joined Congress and returned to BJP again. However, for the last few years, he has been in the news for indirectly targeting BJP leaders and activities on social media. In this situation, due to this action of the IT department, there has been a huge uproar in the entire industry and political circles.

Laxmi diamond was established in 1968, when the eldest brother of the family, Vasanti Gajera, migrated to Surat from Amreli. His father, a farmer by profession, gave him a capital of 10,000 to start this business. Vasan, along with his two other brothers, Dhirubhai and Girdharbhai, started the business with just three diamond polishing wheels in a rented house in Surat. Then in the year 1972, the organization ‘Laxmi  Diamond’ was formally established. In the last 50 years, the company has grown from a small unit of the partnership of three brothers to a large group in the global diamond industry.