Karnataka: I-T department conducts raids on contractors in poll-bound state
(Sourced from PTI)
The Income Tax Department today conducted searches on a number of contractors in poll-bound Karnataka in connection with a tax evasion probe, officials said. They said the raids are being conducted against at least 11 contractors in Mysore and Bengaluru. These contractors are linked to public works jobs rendered by them on government tenders, officials said. Here are more details.
Last week, I-T department said, it gathered details of all contract payments made in last quarter of the completed financial year in Bengaluru and is making a comparison with previous years for identifying abnormal cases. As part of enhanced alertness in wake of single-phase polling scheduled on May 12, IT department's investigation-wing in Karnataka and Goa has stepped up its surveillance and monitoring activities.
In an instance unearthed recently, the department claimed a contractor in one of the districts of the state was searched and it was found that he had made payments to another person who in turn had withdrawn cash from the amount transferred. The cash withdrawn, Rs. 55 lakh was seized and the contractor also admitted to concealment of Rs. 16cr, it had said.
The EC has appointed a number of election expenditure observers in Karnataka, apart from other central observers, to keep a check on black money and illegal inducements used to bribe voters. It had said that Rs. 2,000 and Rs. 500 notes constitute 97% of the Rs. 4.13cr cash that the tax sleuths have seized in poll-bound Karnataka until now.
