I-T Department detects black income of Rs. 100 crore
What's the story
An unaccounted income of Rs. 100 crore has been detected after the Income Tax Department raided three "leading" contractors of Northeast India based in Assam earlier this week, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said on Saturday. The search and survey action was initiated on December 22 at 14 locations in Guwahati, Silapathar, and Pathsala in Assam and in Delhi.
Cash and jewelry seized
'Cash of Rs. 2.95 crore has been seized'
"Cash of Rs. 2.95 crore has been seized. Overall, undisclosed income to the tune of approximately Rs. 100 crore has been unearthed so far during the search and survey operation," the Board said in a statement. It added that "jewelry of Rs. 9.79 lakh has been seized and the sources of acquisition of some other jewelry worth Rs. 2 crore is under verification."
Involvement
Leading contractors of Northeast are involved in the case
Entities involved include "leading contractors of Northeast and one group is also involved in the hospitality business," the CBDT said. "The main allegation against the three groups is that they have taken accommodation (dubious) entries in the form of non-genuine unsecured loans and also securities premium from dubious Kolkata-based shell (dummy) companies," it added.
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Groups have suppressed their net profit across the years: CBDT
"The three groups have suppressed their net profits across the years and routed back into business the unaccounted income through entry operators based out of Guwahati and Kolkata," the CBDT said.
Details
Shell companies that gave out loans exist 'only on paper'
It has been established, the statement said, that the shell companies from which loans/premium had been taken exist "only on paper" and have no real business and creditworthiness. "The entry operators, on being questioned, have admitted that the unsecured loans/share premium from the shell companies to the groups are non-genuine and bogus," it said.
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Cash trail evidence was unearthed during the search
"It has been established that amounts to the tune of about Rs. 65 crore were routed back into regular books involving shell companies which actually represent unaccounted income of the group," the CBDT said.
Detection
A number of suspect cash transactions have been detected
The Board said a number of suspect cash transactions have been detected. "It has been gathered during the search action that one of the groups engages in huge cash transactions in hospitality business of proportions as high as 50% which is under examination," it said. "Some of the entities of the groups engage in purchases of jewelry in cash," it said.
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Investigation on to detect the actual quantum involved in evasion
"The source of the cash purchases are under examination," the CBDT said. Further investigation is on to detect the actual quantum involved in tax evasion even as a locker found during the raids is yet to be "operated," it added.