UT vigilance department recently put 28 establishments under scanner to detect evasion of sales and value-added tax. This was accompanied by attempts at catching income tax evaders among multinational companies.

The establishments being looked at in connection with sales tax and VAT include Chandigarh Club, Chandigarh Golf Association (CGA), Hot Millions, Colonel's Cuisine and some retailers.

The caterers, Colonel's Cuisine and Hot Millions, are being investigated for their services, which are available at Chandigarh Golf Club and CGA, respectively.

Vigilance sleuths are also looking at records of excise and taxation department dealing with these establishments. The documents relate to March 2002 to April 2010.

Officials said they started looking into the records after receiving a tip-off about massive evasions by these businesses.

Sources in the department said the role of some excise and taxation department officials could also be under scanner as a probe showed that some of these establishments had not paid VAT and sales for the past six years.

Sales and taxation department commissioner Barjinder Singh has been informed about the development, they added.

A senior vigilance official stated, "Records of around 50 establishments were looked at and we found that 28 should be investigated. The sales documents of Kumar Brothers of Sector 11, Lally Motors, Kapsons in Sector 17, Palka Point in Sector 22 and Mangla Medicos in Sector 20 were seized for ascertaining the differences between sales tax recovered from customers and paid to the state exchequer."