Word soon spread that the house of assistant trade tax commissioner AK Agarwal had been raided on charges of corruption and disproportionate assets, a fallout of a complaint filed by a local businessman and registered as crime number 516 by the Highway thana police.

“The raiding party was headed by CO vigilance Baldhari Singh who told mediapersons that the search operation continued for more than three hours. Lists of various documents and valuables were being drawn up till late in the evening by sub inspector Veer Pal, BD Saraswat, PS Shukla”, he added. An inquiry at the instance of the state government was already in progress, sources said. Four cars were also included in the lists. The whole exercise was videographed for evidence.

Unconfirmed reports said the raids were simultaneously conducted at Agarwal's houses in Jhansi and Noida alongwith Mathura. Agarwal was not traceable till evening.

Officials declined to divulge any information about the documents seized and the volume of valuables.