Bandra Realty firm having Radia links raided

The 2G Spectrum scam had its echo in Mumbai too when a team of Income Tax officials carried out a raid on the premises of ACE Developers at Bandra, a company allegedly linked to high- profile lobbyist Niira Radia, on Thursday morning. IT officials held siege at the office till late evening.

IT sleuths swooped on the developers' office located at Opriya Apartments on Peter Dias Road around 9 am, to pick up leads on Radia's financial dealings with the realty firm run by Arafat Merchant and Danish Merchant, who operate out of Bandra. The sleuths descended on the apartment and searched for vital documents and incriminating evidence.

The I- T department had been closely monitoring Radia's dealings over a period of time in connection with the 2G scam and Merchant's business enterprises had come under the scanner. IT unearthed corroborated evidence underlining Radia, the high- profile woman public relations lobbyist, acting as a powerbroker in the multi- crore 2G spectrum scam and that she was in frequent touch with the then union Telecom Minister A Raja.

IT unravelled clinching evidence of wheelingdealing in the spectrum scam by legitimate tapping of telephone and mobile lines of several politicians, media persons and industrialists. The conversations were basically about inducting Raja into the UPA II cabinet as Telecom Minister and the dubious 2G licence allocation to beneficiaries.

According to IT officials, the raid was carried out to unearth business interest of the Merchants, since their names had cropped up in the course of investigations into wireless handset providers to 2G spectrum beneficiaries.

" We are investigating certain leads of money laundering and benami transactions involved in the scam, where Radia's alleged role is under investigation. It would be too early to pointedly claim that the Merchants are allegedly involved in the scam. However, we are probing every angle, lead and evidence ferreted out during the raid," claimed an IT official.