The Income Tax department, which had raided and searched the premises of various companies that invested in Purti group in Maharashtra, is understood to have issued notice to BJP president Nitin Gadkari seeking earnings and other details connected to these companies.

Top government sources told HT that the I-T department served the notice last month seeking details from Gadkari of the money trail linked to these "shell companies" some of which are suspected to be "fake or non-existent."

As Gadkari was not in Nagpur, the notice was served and received at his residence.

While Gadkari did not respond to HT's calls, his close aide denied that the I-T department had served the notice in Nagpur."

Neither have we received any notice from I-T department and nor has the department summoned Gadkari till now," the close aide said, on condition of anonymity.

Senior I-T officials, however, maintained that Gadkari was to appear before the authorities on Friday in Nagpur but the BJP chief asked for two more weeks. "The BJP chief wrote to us today asking for two week more time as he's travelling out of Nagpur," a senior official said.

It is understood that the authorities have now summoned Gadkari on January 21 to respond to the tax notice.

Though the BJP is tight-lipped over the entire affair, the I-T notice comes at a time when the party and the RSS leadership are debating whether to give Gadkari another term or look for an alternative choice. His supporters within the RSS and BJP had maintained that the allegations were a 'media trial' and that they would wait for an official investigation in the matter.