Sources in the IT department, on condition of anonymity, said that among the documents seized, some had references to Mr Chandan Basu, the businessman son of the state's former chief minister, Mr Jyoti Basu.

When contacted by The Financial Express, Mr SK Todi's son Ravi Todi confirmed the raids, but denied that any documents had references to Mr Basu. The IT department, which refused to `officially' confirm the Basu-link, was quick to point out that the raids do not have any political angle, without being posed this question.

It is understood that chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who also is in charge of the home department, sanctioned police assistance to the IT officials when it was sought.

IT officials said they had been keeping tabs on Mr SK Todi over the last couple of months. The provocation for the raid, according to officials, was that Mr Todi's assets seemed to be disproportionate to his known sources of income. The SK Todi family has a wide-range of businesses in Kolkata ranging from leasing & financing of equipment, cars and commercial vehicles, to construction business, healthcare and engineering. The Todis are originally from Rajasthan and were involved in jute trading earlier. Following the Indo-Pak war of 1965, the family shifted to Kolkata and, apart from setting up businesses, had close links with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Mr Jyoti Basu's family in particular.

It is understood that Mr SK Todi's wife, Mrs Chitralekha Todi, was a member of the CPM's women wing, but had resigned some time back. According to Mr Ravi Todi, the Todi-brothers had separated their businesses ten years ago. He said the raid was a "normal operation" which "happens to all businessman every other day".