Joint commissioner of police Amod Kant told reporters here that the raids on the premises of V Balasubramanian, group president of Reliance, had been conducted by a joint team of Delhi police and income tax authorities after obtaining a search warrant.

Kant alleged that Sharma was acting as a "conduit" between Balasubramanian and Dawood Ibrahim.

He said "incriminating" documents, computer floppies and some government papers had been seized during the search which included papers relating to a helicopter that had been parked at the farmhouse of Sharma, who has been arrested on several charges of forcible acquisition of the copter and illegal detention of its owner.

Asked if the Reliance group was involvedin the case, Kant said, "I don't think the group is directly involved. Any kind of evidence has not come till now about Reliance group as such."

Balasubramanian said in a statement on Thursday that he had no "improper" dealings with Sharma. "Dealings, if any, with Romesh Sharma have been in my personal capacity and have nothing whatsoever to do with Reliance," he said.

Reliance also said in a separate statement, "Neither Reliance, nor anyone on behalf of Reliance, had any dealings with Romesh Sharma."

Kant refused to divulge more details except to say that some documents which could not be seized were sealed at the premises of Balasubramanian.

The joint commissioner also spoke of an extortion angle to the case and said some other smaller business group could be involved in such cases.

He said 14 cases pertaining to Sharma have so far been registered and added that there were "strong overtones" of Dubai and underworld connections.

Kant claimed papers concerning the helicopter seized from thebackyard of Sharma's farmhouse had been transferred to Balasubramanian. Sharma had allegedly cheated a Mumbai-based aviation company director Suresh Rao of the helicopter.

On asked if there was political pressure before the investigation was started, Kant said, "None".

Romesh Sharma, who was arrested here last week, was on Wednesday remanded to judicial custody till November 11 in connection with separate cases, including alleged forcible acquisition of a helicopter, illegal detention of its owner and violation of the Arms Act.

The police claimed to have uncovered properties allegedly worth over Rs 500 crore including 15 foreign cars, documents pertaining to over a dozen houses in Delhi, Mumbai and Jalandhar, jewellery and a large quantity of foreign made liquor, one tiger skin, a leopard skin, a deer skin and 14 rounds of .32 bore revolvers from Sharma.

Kant said a coordination committee involving CBI, income tax, Delhi police and enforcement directorate would monitor the probe in the Romesh Sharmacases.