Multiple teams of I-T sleuths visited the offices of the firms of the 24 members, a number of which are either small entities or are suspected to be front companies for other people, sources said.

The searches are being done in cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Nagpur, Jaipur and few other locations.

The I-T action has been launched to check the stocks and goods stored in the warehouses of these firms, to check the account books and transactions in order to ascertain any possible tax evasion by these entities and verify their claims of huge dues, they said.

The tax authorities, according to sources, have already gathered financial details about these member entities from the NSEL and commodity market regulator --- Forward Markets Commission (FMC).

NSEL is facing the problem of settling Rs 5,600 crore dues after its suspended trade on July 31, following the government direction in the wake of violation of certain rules by the exchange.

As of now, the Exchange could settle only Rs 92.12 crore out of the scheduled of Rs 174.72 crore payment it had committed to FMC.

NSEL has also sacked its Managing Director and CEO Anjani Sinha and six other top executives in the wake of these developments.

PTI