The raids have taken place nationwide, including in metros such as Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai and big cities like Ludhiana, Chandigarh and Pune.

Jewellers are under the scanner of income tax department as 'credible intelligence' inputs point out that there has been a sudden surge in transactions that show black money is being converted into gold at inflated prices.
RAIDS BASED ON INTELLIGENCE

A senior I-T official, however, told Mail Today that the raids are only being carried out at specific establishments and are not generalized in nature, as is being made out. The raids have taken place nationwide, including in metros such as Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai and big cities like Ludhiana, Chandigarh and Pune. The official also said that in some cases it has been found that the jewellers' stocks were far below what was shown in their books, which meant that there had been outright black money transactions.

TOO EARLY FOR ESTIMATES ON BLACK MONEY RECOUPED

There were also instances of gold being found in excess of what was reflected in the books which are suspected to be cases of smuggled gold coming into the system, he added. He, however, said it was "too early to arrive at an estimate on the amount of black money that may have been converted in all these transactions as the 'stock taking was still going on." The official also pointed out that the IT raids also covered builders as there was credible intelligence to show that they had been selling homes to black money holders with back-dated receipts.

Foreign exchange dealers were another section that has been raided in connection with black money transactions. Similarly, those dealing in other commodities such as copper and aluminum are also being tracked to see whether any black money is being laundered though stocks of these goods. According to sources, operations were planned after CBDT Chairman Sushil Chandra asked all the investigation units in the country to keep a check on suspicious movement of huge cash and other illegal transactions leading to tax evasion. Senior IT officials say of the `14 lakh crore that was in circulation through in 500 and 1000 rupee notes, anywhere between `2 to `4 lakh crore will not come back into the banking system.