I-T raids in Bengaluru: Officials recover Rs 42 crore in cash in 23 cardboard boxes

Officials of the Income Tax (I-T) department on Friday continued their raids in several parts of the city and found approximately Rs 42 crore in cash.

Sources said that the large sum in Rs 500 denominations was stored in 23 cardboard boxes at the house of an ex-corporator of Ward 95. The officials raided the house in Atmananda Colony in RT Nagar belonging to Ashwathamma and R Ambikapati, sources said.

According to sources, the cash was likely to be transported to a neighbouring state but an official statement is awaited.

A local resident said the I-T officials arrived at around 7 am and asked them to stay inside the house.

“The officials told us to switch off our phones and stay inside,” the local told DH. “There were around four people, who identified as I-T officials and were accompanied by the local police. They also asked us if we knew anything about those living on the first floor. They allowed us to briefly go out to get something to eat. The searches were also held on Thursday late evening.”

The apartment complex, Sannidhi, has a Canara bank branch on the ground floor and I-T officials are searching the house on the first floor. The other neighbours stay on the third floor of the building.

Traffic movement in the area is normal as the officials only restricted movement to the apartment complex. As of 12 pm, the officials were still holding the searches.

On Thursday, the I-T department conducted raids and searches at 25 places in Bengaluru belonging to two civic contractors over suspected tax evasion.

I-T sleuths raided the offices of two contractors – BSR Infratech and Star Infratech – in Sahakar Nagar, Sanjaynagar, among others, besides searching the homes of the people concerned, DH reported previously quoting sources.

Officials collected information regarding the companies’ transactions while also searching the homes of board members and others. During the searches, cash and other documents were seized, sources said.

Similar raids were held last week in the city on properties belonging to businessmen and doctors over suspicion of tax evasion. More than 15 places, including Sadashivanagar, BTM Layout, Vijayanagar, Hulimavu, JC Road and Shanthinagar, were searched by I-T officials.