The Department of Income Tax, investigating corruption in the organisation of the Commonwealth Games on the directive of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, conducted massive raids at 23 places, including the Games' headquarters.

The raids, which began late Monday night, were also conducted on prominent names, like BJP leader and industrialist Sudhanshu Mittal and his nephew Vinay Mittal, who were linked with awarding of contracts for the Games.

Both Sudhanshu and Vinay Mittal are connected with Deepali consortium, a supplier of sports equipment, which was awarded a contract for the Games.

Apparently companies owned by Mittal had got contracts worth Rs 230 crore.

"This is just tip of the iceberg," a senior official of Indian Olympic Association told rediff.com.

So far raids have been conducted at six places, including Ludhiana. Senior Income Tax officials refused to give details of the raids.

"This will hamper the investigations," a close source in the IT department said.

On Monday, the Comptroller and Auditor General, Vinod Rai, had formally announced a massive audit of the expenditure on the Games.