With the prices of most of the vegetables soaring, the Income Tax sleuths on Friday carried out massive raids on the offices and godowns of the wholesale traders in onion and garlic in major cities and towns of Gujarat.
The outcome of the raids that started in the morning was not immediately known, but informed sources said the idea was to check whether the wholesalers were unduly holding stocks to take advantage of the market situation and indulging in underhand dealings to induce further price rise.
Even some of the major retailers in onion and other vegetables in agricultural produce markets in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot and Bhavnagar, one of the major centres of onion production in the State, were also not spared. Onion prices in the retail markets jumped up to over Rs.80 per kg in the wake of the ban by the Pakistan government on the export of onions to India through land.
