Astral opened almost 2.5% lower today at Rs.2183.50 and went down to an intraday low at Rs.2146, a fall of 4%. Its 10% LC of the day is at Rs.2010.10. It has since then recouped to Rs.2220 levels currently.

The unconfirmed news today is that the Income Tax (IT) is currently searching the Ahmedabad offices of Astral. Nearly 150 officers ae said to be conducting the search at 40 locations of the company in Gujarat.

The IT seems to be super busy conducting raids in Gujarat. Last month it unearthed unaccounted sale and purchase of diamonds worth over Rs 500 crore after conducting searches on a Gujarat-based diamond trader.

This was followed by a raid across more than 20 premises of a Gujarat-based group engaged in the manufacturing of chemicals and the development of the real estate. And yesterday, it detected Rs.100 crore unaccounted income from this group.