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IT raids Bharat Shah firm
in Chhattisgarh: PTI

Department sources told PTI that two teams raided the registered office of B Vijaykumar Chhattisgarh Exploration Company in Priyadarshini Nagar in Raipur as well as their under-construction sophisticated diamond laboratory at Mainpur, 130 km from the state capital.

The raids were conducted as the BVCE, the state mining department and the state government were not providing information about the company activities, the sources said.

BVCE is a joint venture between the state government, state mining corporation and the B Vijaykumar group, the largest exporter of polished diamonds from India. It has been given a diamond prospecting licence for aerial survey in 4600 square km in Deobhog, Raipur district.

The initial directors of the company are Bharat Shantilal Shah, his son Rashesh Shah, S Lakshinarayan Shah and A K Agrawal, IT sources added.

The IT officials are scrutinising documents they have come across during the raids, they said.

IT sources said Shah's company was constructing one of the most sophisticated laboratories for diamond detection in Asia with a huge investment. They have also purchased land at various places in Chhattisgarh.

The company has been using sophisticated communication equipment to interact regularly with Australia and South Africa secretly, income tax officials added.

The BVCE has also exported 7500 kg soil for laboratory tests abroad but are reluctant to reveal whether it contained diamond traces, the sources said.

The department conducted the raids to probe these facts and other things, sources said.

Investigations are in the primary stage, the sources said.

The Complete Coverage: The Bharat Shah Case

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