North India Statesman
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News India Live, Digital Desk: The Income Tax Department has launched a major strike on ‘Baba Group’ (Baba Agro Food and Baba Food Processing), one of the big industrial houses of Jharkhand and Bihar, early in the morning on Thursday (January 29, 2026). The Ranchi and Jamshedpur wings of the department simultaneously investigated the cases of Jharkhand and Bihar. 40 to 45 bases But raided. This is considered to be the first and biggest action of 2026, in which the directors of Baba Group Yogesh Sahu and Gyan Prakash Sahu Along with this, his close associates and agents have been put on the radar.
Where did the raids take place? (Locations in Focus)
The operation was so massive that it involved more than 450 Income Tax officials and 15 forensic teams along with CRPF and local police:
Jharkhand: Ranchi (Kanke Road, Ratu Road), Jamshedpur (Bistupur and Jugsalai), Hazaribagh.
Bihar: Patna, Gaya (Hath Godown and Manpur), Aurangabad (Maharajganj Road).
Major locations: businessman in jamshedpur Sanjay Aggarwal and ca Manoj Chaudhary The residence was also raided. The department has taken possession of the rice mill plant located at Nagdi.
Investigation Highlights
| Description | key facts |
|---|---|
| sponsored group | Baba Agro Food Limited, Baba Food Processing India Limited. |
| main allegation | Large scale tax evasion and conduct of ‘raw’ (unrecorded) trade. |
| recovery | Huge amounts of cash transaction documents, computer hard disks and investment papers. |
| focus area | Matching of paddy procurement, electricity bill and actual production capacity of mills. |
Why did this action happen? (The Root Cause)
The Income Tax Department had received strong input that Baba Group was hiding real income under the guise of rice, flour and maida business.
Raw Trade: Food grains were being bought and sold in cash through about 15 big commission agents of Gaya and Aurangabad, records of which were not in the books.
Input Tax Credit (ITC) game: The department suspects that fake billing was resorted to to save tax.
Undisclosed Investment: The raids have found evidence of huge investments made in real estate and other sectors, which are far in excess of the declared income.
What is Baba Group?
Baba Group is the largest rice producing group in Jharkhand. Basmati rice, flour and maida under its ‘Baba’ brand are famous throughout Eastern India. The department is now investigating whether government revenue worth crores has been defrauded through ‘cash game’ during procurement of paddy from Bihar and its processing in Jharkhand.
Latest Status: The raid continues today (Friday). Many CAs and accountants have absconded as soon as they got wind of the investigation. The department may soon share official details of the seized cash and properties.
