The government today denied reports that nationwide searches are being conducted by the Income Tax Department on stock brokers and other market intermediaries."There is no truth in such reports. There are no nationwide searches being conducted by the Income Tax Department. No searches are being conducted on stock brokers and other stock market intermediaries as erroneously reported in the media," an official release issued by the ministry of finance said.Income tax authorities, however, carried out searches on some real estate developers, doctors, interior decorators, IT firms and a flour mill spread across major cities in the country.Central Board of Direct Taxes spokesperson A K Sinha denied that any nationwide searches were carried out on stock brokers and other stock market intermediaries. "There is no truth in such reports," Sinha said.Sinha said local-level searches were carried out in Mumbai on some doctors, diagnostic centres and interior designers. Tax authorities also raided some real estate developers in Pune and some consequential searches were conducted at Chennai and Kolhapur.Similarly, searches were carried out at a flour mill in Delhi and some IT firms in Kochin, Sinha said.The authorities, last month, recovered Rs 125 crore from a single real estate developer in a tax evasion case in Mumbai.
