Daijiworld Media Network
Chennai, Jan 3: The Income Tax Department raided Chennai’s popular restaurant chains Saravana Bhavan, Hot Breads, the Anjappar group and Grand Sweets over alleged tax evasion.
The raid held on Thursday morning at 32 locations, had the residences and offices of the directors of the restaurants searched.
According to IT sleuths, there were allegations that the restaurant groups suppressed income and hence search operations were conducted to obtain evidence.
Saravana Bhavan, established by P Rajagopal in 1981 has outlets in 20 countries including the US, the UK, France and Australia.
Anjappar, established in 1964 is famous for Chettinad-style preparations at 70 outlets.
Grand Sweets and Snacks started by G Natarajan in 1982 and Hot Breads was started by M Mahadevan are also big names in the food industry.
Reports suggest that the raids will continue till Friday evening. The restaurant chains are yet to respond to the tax raids. However, daily operations at the four restaurant chains continued smoothly.