IT officials raid IPL Pune's Sahara head office in Lucknow

Income Tax department sleuths on Thursday conducted a raid at the head office of the Sahara Group, owner of IPL Pune team, at Aliganj in Lucknow and scoured through documents related to the Indian Premier League.

A 12-member team came to the office at about 2 pm and examined documents related to IPL, company sources said.

However, company officials maintained that it was "not a raid but a routine survey" by the department.

"They had sought time to examine the IPL papers," they said.

Following the controversy over IPL Kochi franchise, Income Tax officials had on Wednesday swooped down on the offices of other IPL franchisees including Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings, Deccan Chargers and Kings XI Punjab.

Business conglomerate Sahara had last month bagged the Pune franchise, one of the two new teams unveiled in the cash-awash Twenty20 League from the 2011 season.