Income Tax Department on Tuesday raided 58 premises of a prominent Gujarat business group spread across Kheda, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kolkata.
Unaccounted transactions worth more than 1000 crore rupees have been detected in this raid. In addition, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) stated that unaccounted cash, jewelry, bullion and other assets worth Rs 20 crore were also seized during the raids.
According to the statement of the CBDT released to the press on Tuesday, the department conducted the raid on July 20. It was informed that as a result of the search operation, various incriminating pieces of evidence in documents and digital data had been found and seized.
The evidence found in the raids shows that the group was committing tax evasion on a large scale by adopting various methods. This includes placing cash sales outside the books of account, booking fraudulent purchases and receipts of money from the immovable property from transactions.
The statement said that the group has also been involved in the layering of unaccounted transactions by sharing premiums from shell companies based in Kolkata. On the other hand, the Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday said it had seized 67 windmills worth over Rs 51 crore, taking action against Chennai-based Surana Group in an alleged Rs 3,986 crore bank loan fraud and money laundering case.
A few days ago, in another case, in Gujarat, 25 crore cash and jewelery worth Rs 15 crore were found in Income Tax raids on Chiripal Group engaged in textile, packaging and education. Income Tax officials had collected 25 crore cash at one place. During the investigation of the bungalow of a person associated with the group, Rs 16 crore in cash was found in the bedroom cupboard. It has bundles of 2000 and 500 notes. Apart from this, Rs 9 crore has been seized separately from other locations.