The Income Tax Department in Gujarat conducted a search and seizure operation at Chiripal Group in Ahmedabad. The operation was initiated by the investigation wing in Surat on July 19. Till July 25, around Rs 50 crores of unaccounted cash and jewellery was seized from 49 locations of the conglomerate. Digital documents of the company are still under investigation. Over 200 I-T officials were deployed at various locations of Chiripal Group.
Company’s main office, Chiripal House in Shivranjani and in the Bopal area were under investigation. Jyotiprasad Chiripal, Vedprakash Chiripal, Brijmohan Chiripal, Vishal Chiripal and Ronak Chiripal were under the I-T radar. The searches were also conducted at Nandan Denim and Vishal Fabrics.
Turnover of Over $ 700 million
Chiripal Group was incorporated in 1972. They are into petrochemicals, spinning, weaving, knitting, fabric processing, chemicals, infrastructure, and educational initiatives. They have over 20,000 employees. In 2021, the company had revenue of more than Rs 10,000 crore. Chiripal Group has a current annual turnover of $700 million USD from various businesses.
Core Business Activities
- Denims & Twills (Denim, Bottom Weight, Shirting, Khakis) & Terry Towels
- Flexible Packaging
- Process House (All types of Dyeing, Printing, Bleaching & Finishing Facilities)
- Filament Business
Diversified Business Activities
- Infrastructure (Textile and Spinning Park)
- Education: Junior Schools, K-12 Schools, B-School
- Real Estate
Investment of over Rs 5,400 crores
In April, 2022, Chiripal Group proposed to invest Rs. 5,400 crore in Madhya Pradesh for setting up a solar cell and a textile unit in Ratlam. The company heads personally met Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chief Minister, MP.
Chiripal and its history of fire incidents
Chiripal group is infamous for fire incidents in its manufacturing units. In February, 2020 six workers were burnt to death in a fiery fire at the Nandan Denim factory of the Chiripal Group in Narol area, Ahmedabad. Despite frequent occurrences of fire incidents in the company, no action is taken.
The deadly negligence was investigated and police had arrested Jyoti Chiripal, Deepak Chiripal, BC Patel, HM Patel, Ravikant Sinha, PK Sharma, DC.
Labourers suffocated to death in Chiripal Industries
In July, 2020, four labourers of Chiripal company had died while cleaning a chemical tank in Dholka, Ahmedabad. The labourers were suffocated to death after leakage of poisonous gas in the tank of Chiripal Industries. Earlier allegations were also made against the company that it was illegally dumping chemical water in the area.