CHENNAI: As part of its efforts to crack down on tax evaders in business, the Income Tax (Investigation Wing) has brought under the scanner smallbusinessmen and industrialists. Searches were carried out this week on the premises of Chennai-based "lesser known builders."

Giving details of the raid on the residence-cum-office-premises of a "lesser known builder" in central Chennai, official sources told The Hindu that the IT sleuths had seized Rs.10 lakhs in cash and a large volume of "incriminating documents" indicating concealment of income to the tune of Rs. 5 crores.

The search operation, which began on Wednesday morning with more than 50 personnel, ended in the early hours of Thursday. During the course of the search, "unexplained expenditure documents" were seized which the IT (Investigation Wing) officials were examining to determine the extent of tax evasion. The search was based on specific intelligence gathered by the I-T Department on unaccounted for investments and unexplained expenditure incurred by the builder.

A number of paper slips recovered showed suppression of income relating to financial dealings and unaccounted expenditure by the builder. The enquiry would cover large-scale investments made by the builder in acquiring land and other movable and immovable assets.

The agency has also stepped up vigil at important airports. This has yielded unaccounted for money from passengers in Chennai, Bangalore, and Mumbai.

Significantly, the investigation wing of the IT has turned its focus on several sectors. The objective, sources said, was to enlarge the tax net and "unearth unaccounted for money." Searches have covered doctors in Madurai, which netted Rs.2 crores of concealed income, jewellers in Chennai and Tiruvannamalai (Rs.6.25 crores in concealed income), fixed deposit investments in fictitious names by "businessmen" in Erode (Rs. 21 crores) and now "lesser known builders" (Rs.5 crores). The investigations into the fixed deposits in Erode and the "lesser known builders" are continuing.

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