The Income Tax Department carried out a search and seizure operation on a group based in Visakhapatnam at 17 different premises across Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Nagpur, and Kolkata. The group entities are engaged in the extraction of vegetable oils, mining of manganese ore, and manufacturing of ferro alloys.
The Income Tax Department also carried out a search and seizure operation on 24.08.2021 on a group based in Rajkot. The group is among Gujarat’s prominent real estate builders & developers and is actively engaged in real estate, construction, and land trading businesses in and around Rajkot. More than 40 premises were covered in the operation.
During the course of the search operation, handwritten diaries/documents, loose sheets depicting undisclosed cash transactions were seized. The group is inflating expenditure, indulging in cash sales of oil, and under-invoicing of slag. Transactions in the form of suppression of sales and inflation of expenditure were unearthed.
Unaccounted cash of Rs. 3.0 crore has been seized so far. In total, the searches have resulted in detecting incriminating evidence relating to undisclosed financial transactions of about Rs. 40 crore.
During the course of the search and seizure operation many incriminating documents, loose sheets, digital evidence, etc. were seized indicating the involvement of the group in unaccounted transactions. Substantial evidence of transactions outside the regular books of accounts, unaccounted cash expenses, cash advances received, and interest paid in cash, has been found. Evidence of on-money payments in real estate projects-flats, shops, and land deals has also been found. Total unaccounted cash receipts in various projects of approximately Rs. 350 crore have been unearthed along with corroborative evidence. Further, evidence related to the land purchase of approximately Rs. 154 crore has also been found, out of which, Rs. 144 crore was purportedly paid in cash.
Overall, the search and seizure operation has resulted in the detection of concealment of income in excess of Rs. 300 crore spread over various assessment years, which is likely to go up. Unaccounted cash of more than Rs. 6.40 crore and jewelry amounting to Rs. 1.70 crore has been seized from different premises. Furthermore, promissory notes to the tune of Rs. 4 crores have also been found and seized. 25 lockers have been found during the course of the search operation which has been put under prohibitory orders. The search operation is still continuing.
Further investigations are in progress.
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