MEERUT, Feb. 6 -- The state tax department on Thursday seized undeclared gold, silver and diamond jewellery worth around Rs.33 crore in an alleged tax evasion case involving a jeweller in Sambhal district, officials said. The seizure followed simultaneous raids by a 10-member enforcement team at the trader's showroom and residence, with the search operation continuing for nearly 21 hours. During the operation, the jeweller deposited Rs.1.20 crore on the spot as a penalty, according to department officials. Officials said the department had been receiving continuous intelligence inputs indicating that several traders were allegedly taking advantage of rising precious metal prices and were involved in the purchase and sale of gold and silver without valid documents. After nearly a month of discreet surveillance, a jeweller in Sambhal district was identified for action. On Wednesday, a 10-member enforcement team from the state tax department's Moradabad zone carried out simultaneous raids at the jeweller's showroom and residence at around 1 pm. The search operation continued uninterrupted for nearly 21 hours. During the raid, the jeweller allegedly failed to produce valid purchase documents for the stock available at the showroom. Officials said the stock register showed entries of only 439 grams of gold jewellery and 120 kilograms of silver jewellery. However, the actual stock recovered from the premises was found to be much higher, including 16.638 kilograms of gold jewellery, 875 kilograms of silver jewellery and diamonds weighing 34.43 carats. Officials said no proper accounts or documentation were found for the recovered stock. Based on prevailing market rates, the value of the undeclared jewellery has been estimated at approximately Rs.33 crore, and the entire stock has been seized by the department. In addition to the jewellery, officials also seized slips recovered from the showroom and residence, along with mobile phones containing business-related data. The digital and physical records are being examined as part of further investigation. The operation was carried out by deputy commissioner Bamdev Tripathi, deputy commissioner Uttam Tiwari, assistant commissioners Rananjay Yadav, Akhilesh Kumar, Pooja Dixit and Rahat Chand, along with state tax officers Rupam Upadhyay, Arvind Kumar, Dheeraj Singh and Bijendra Singh.htc...