<h1>Income tax raids on food and beverage firms over alleged cash, off-books sales, including Shetty co-owned restaurant; records seized</h1> Search and seizure proceedings were conducted by the Income Tax Department at approximately 20-24 premises of multiple food and beverages companies in and around Mumbai, based on actionable inputs alleging tax evasion through out-of-books and cash transactions. The searches included office premises of a restaurant co-owned by actor Shilpa Shetty and others, while officials denied that her residence was searched. Authorities stated that the income-tax action was not linked to separate police cases reportedly involving Shetty and her husband or to a Bengaluru police case concerning alleged operation of a restaurant beyond permitted working hours. The operative effect is the collection of evidence and records to verify alleged unaccounted transactions and to enable consequential tax proceedings under applicable law.