Income Tax Department raids multiple offices of L7 Group

In the wee hours of Wednesday, the Income Tax Department launched coordinated search operations at multiple office premises of Ravi Agarwal-led L7 Group of Companies, an official source informed DH on condition of anonymity.

“The group has been evading taxes to the tune of 100s of crores,” said the source, who refrained from revealing further details to steer clear of any hindrances in the IT department’s efforts.

At the time of publication, raids were underway at Mumbai, Nagpur, Ahmedabad and Kanpur, including Agarwal’s residence.

L7 Group and the Income Tax Department did not respond to DH’s queries seeking comments.

This is not the first instance of Agarwal’s encounter with the authorities. The crime branch’s economic offences wing, assisted by the Securities and Exchange Board of India in 2016 conducted raids at L7’s premises in the case of a widespread network of illegal interstate ‘dabba trade’ or informal trading that takes place outside of the purview of the stock exchanges - in other words, gambling centred around stock price movements.

Established in 1974, The L7 Group operates across diversified sectors such as construction, finance, media, entertainment, software, steel and food processing, among others.