I-T raids 'routine' affair, say managements

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Managing Director for Century Builders Dayanand Pai said the raids were a normal thing and the officials have not found any wrongdoing by the Group.
“The raids appear to be nothing abnormal. It appears that they may have had reasons to believe from reports that we had made huge sums of money from the market,” Pai said.

Same scrutiny

The MD of Century Builders said the I-T inquiry was nothing new as he had been subjected to the same scrutiny 10-12 years ago. “There was no trouble at all and we will most likely be called for explanations, if any by the I-T department,” he said.

He confirmed that the I-T department raided two offices of Century Builders and the homes of the eight partners in the firm. Pro-Chancellor for Manipal University in Manipal Dr H S Ballal said there was full co-operation from the University and the I-T scrutiny was mostly related to their admission of NRI students.

Through proper channels

“We showed them that all the money coming in from outside the country were being processed through the proper channels and there was no questioning by the department of any sort,” said Ballal. 

On Tuesday, the I-T officials raided about 50 premises in the State, including medical and education institutions and real estate firms in Bangalore, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Manipal, Mysore and other places, simultaneously.

Verification of returns

The raids were conducted on Dayanand  Pai’s Century Group, apart from Ramdas Pai’s Manipal Education and medical institutions. Their relatives’ houses and offices were also raided by the officials for verification of correctness of income tax returns filed by these firms.

Searches were also conducted on official and residential premises of a few other real estate business firms in Bangalore. Ramdas Pai’s Institutions on Airport Road and Dayanand Pai’s office in Vasanthanagar were also raided.