I-T dept seizes Rs 56 crore cash in raids conducted in Maharashtra
India Today
The Income Tax Department conducted raids on the premises of two major groups engaged in the manufacturing of steel TMT bars and seized Rs 56 crore of unaccounted cash and gold jewellery.
The Income Tax Department conducted raids on August 3 on the premises of two major groups engaged in the manufacturing of steel TMT bars and seized Rs 56 crore of unaccounted cash and gold jewellery.
The search operation covered more than 30 premises spread over Jalna, Aurangabad, Nashik and Mumbai in Maharashtra.
Some of the premises that were searched belonged to SRJ Steel, Kalika Steel, One Co-operative bank, Financer Vimal Raj Bora and Dealer Pradeep Bora.
During the course of the operation, a lot of incriminating evidence was found and seized.
The initial analysis of seized evidence of both the groups revealed that they were engaged in large-scale tax evasion, resorting to inflation of expenditure through bogus purchases from several entities. These entities have also been found to be involved in GST fraud. In addition to this, evidence has also been found of excess stock of raw materials, not recorded in the books of account, exceeding Rs 120 crore.
Examination of evidence in one of the groups further revealed that it indulged in layering its unaccounted income through bogus unsecured loans and share premiums, obtained from Kolkata-based shell companies.
The search team also detected a large number of lockers of both groups, SRJ steel and Kalika steel, opened in the names of employees of the companies which were maintained by One Co-operative bank. During the search operation, more than 30 bank lockers were searched. Huge unaccounted cash and gold jewellery have been found and seized from these lockers.
