Karnataka Raids: IT Dept Seizes Rs 94 Cr Cash, Jewellery After Searching Govt Contractors, Realty Developers
GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 16th Oct. The Income Tax department has conducted raids on government contractors and real estate developers in Karnataka and other states, resulting in the seizure of Rs 94 crore in cash, as well as gold and diamond jewellery worth Rs 8 crore and 30 luxury watches, according to the CBDT.
The searches began on October 12 and covered 55 premises in Bengaluru, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Delhi.
“The search has resulted in seizure of unaccounted cash of approximately Rs 94 crore and gold and diamond jewellery of over Rs 8 crore, aggregating to more than Rs 102 crore,” the Central Board of Direct Taxes said in a statement.
“Further, a cache of about 30 luxury wristwatches of foreign make were unearthed from the premises of a private salaried employee, not engaged in the business of wristwatches,” it said without identifying the accused entities.
A dispute has arisen between the ruling Congress party and the opposition BJP in Karnataka over the recovery of unaccounted cash. Nalin Kumar Kateel, the state president of the BJP, claimed that the money was connected to the Congress. However, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has refuted this accusation as baseless.
The CBDT is responsible for establishing policies for the Income Tax department.
During the raids on the entities and their associates, a significant amount of potentially incriminating evidence, including loose sheets, hard copies of documents, and digital data, was also seized.
The modus-operandi of “tax evasion” detected indicates that these contractors were involved in reducing their income by inflation of expenses by booking bogus purchases, non-genuine claim of expenses with sub-contractors and claiming ineligible expenses, it said. The “irregularities” detected in utilisation of contract receipts has resulted in generation of “huge unaccounted cash” and creation of “undisclosed” assets, according to the CBDT.
“Evidence indicating inflation of expenses in the form of discrepancies in goods receipt note (GRN) validation have been unearthed during the search and evidence of huge discrepancies in documentation related to purchases booked and actual physical transport of goods have also been unearthed, with regard to bogus transactions with sub-contractors, some of whom were also covered during the search,” the statement said.
These contractors, it claimed, were also involved in booking expenses for non-business purposes. It said evidence related to “liaison expenses” was seized and large-scale unaccounted cash transactions, not found recorded in the account books, have also been found during the search from the premises of the assessees, sub-contractors, and associates, including certain cash handlers.
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