According to a Report in The Times of India, Income tax officials on Tuesday raided four offshore casino vessels and one onshore casino in Panaji, on a tip-off that they were indulging in illegal cash transactions. Casino Deltin Royale and Deltin Jaqk, Casino Pride 1 and Pride 2(erstwhile Casino Carnival), as well as Hotel Neo Majestic in Porvorim that lodges Casino Paradise were the targets of raids by a team of officials from Bangalore. It is learnt that the residences of company directors B R Arora, Ashok Wadia and Ashok Khetrapal in Goa, Mumbai and Delhi were also raided.
OPN spoke to the Casino Deltin Royale officials and understands that the early Tuesday morning raids saw operations hampered for a couple of hours. But the casino started operating and opened to players from afternoon on Tuesday. As on the time of going to press, the IT sleuths were still at work on the Casino vessel.
According to the report in TOI, the tax raid could be due to non-compliance of Know your Customer(KYC) norms. The report also states that there was information with the Income tax department which led them to investigate money launcdering charges.
While details are just trickling in, OPN will keep tracking the story as and when more information comes in.