The searches began at 7 a.m. by a team of more than 100 personnel

Suspecting tax evasion, the Enforcement Wing of the Commercial Taxes Department on Thursday conducted searches on 40-odd premises of Hotel Saravana Bhavan across the city and suburbs.

The searches began at 7 a.m. by a team of more than 100 personnel. “Searches were conducted on suspicion that there could be evasion of sales [Value Added Tax], undermining the sales,” said a senior official of the Commercial Taxes Department.

Data collected

Data and records were being collected to be compared with the declarations made by the company in the past, and the declaration pertaining to the current taxation period. Only then could an opinion be formed whether or not there was tax evasion, officials said.

The food chain is very popular in the city. It has a number of branches in the country and abroad.

The premises that were searched included 29 branches, stores, kitchens and service centres. The operation was expected to continue on Friday to cover all branches, the official said.

Combo pack

Speaking on behalf of the company, K. Kamalakannan, creative in-charge, told The Hindu that the food chain recently introduced a combo pack for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The pack had assorted items at a reasonable price, offering many of the items on the menu in smaller quantities. This proved a hit, and the sales went up. Perhaps, the officials were trying to ascertain whether the firm had declared the actual sale volume for VAT remittance, he said.

Asserting that there was no suppression of facts or tax evasion, he said the company was co-operating with officials so that the search could be completed at the earliest.