Surat: In a significant crackdown ahead of the March financial year-end, the Income Tax (IT) Department has launched large-scale search operations across Surat and Navsari, targeting prominent real estate and business groups over suspected tax evasion and unaccounted cash transactions.

Search operations began early Wednesday morning and are currently underway at multiple locations linked to the Mirrikh Group and Opera Group. These groups are associated with major real estate projects in Navsari and Dholera SIR. A team of nearly 80 IT officials is conducting coordinated searches, making it one of the largest actions in the region ahead of the close of the 2025–26 financial year.

It is learnt that the investigation was triggered following a tip-off regarding substantial cash transactions during property bookings in several real estate projects.

The probe has also been extended to the premises of prominent land brokers, including Agam Vadecha and Vikram Rao, who are considered influential figures in local property dealings. Officials suspect that in several land transactions, amounts higher than the government-prescribed Jantri rates were allegedly collected in cash to reduce stamp duty liabilities.

While the search operations are still ongoing and the process of opening lockers has yet to be completed, there are reports that substantial undisclosed income, running into crores of rupees, may come to light by the end of the investigation. DeshGujarat