I-T sleuths get vital clues from KKR office

A team of I-T officials, who conducted search operations at the offices of the Cricket Association of Bengal(CAB) and KKR here till the early hours of Thursday, stumbled upon some documents that hold the possibility of opening a can of worms.

“We have found some highly valuable documents along with incriminating evidence. We will have to investigate further. We needed to have a look at certain transactions and the most important thing is that we’ve found whatever we were looking for,” Indian Revenue Service deputy director Akhilendu Jadhav said.

Even as Jadhav declined to elaborate much on the seizures, speculation gained ground that some of these officials might fly to Mumbai to pursue certain trails that they had stumbled upon during the massive search operations that began on Thursday evening and went on for more than nine hours, ending shortly after 2 am.

The main angle that the I-T sleuths were trying to probe during the ongoing investigation into IPL franchisees was the legality of money transfers from tax havens abroad, primarily Mauritius. This apart, officials of the Directorate of Enforcement were probing the legitimacy of transactions between Red Chillies Entertainment, the Khan-owned franchisee and the Bengal cricket board, the officials explained.

In simultaneous raids at the CAB office at Eden Gardens and the premises of KKR and Red Chillies Entertainment at ITC Sonar Bangla and Shakespeare Sarani, the officials questioned CAB office bearers, including its joint secretary Biswarup Dey besides several Red Chillies functionaries.

The I-T raid in the KKR office here was expected in view of SRK’s reported proximity to Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman.

However, according to sources, despite I-T officials’ claim, some of the documents which might have helped them unearth fraudulent dealings, were believed to have been removed to Mumbai after KKR’s last match against Mumbai Indians at the Eden Gardens here last week.

KKR is among the four IPL franchisees whose offices were raided during a nation-wide probe by tax sleuths. The offices of Chennai Super Kings, Deccan Chargers and Kings XI were searched in Chennai, Hyderabad and Gurgaon respectively.

“We are satisfied with our inquiry. This is a lengthy process and if needed we will come back again,” the I-T official said when asked whether they have plans to conduct a similar raid at the office of CAB president Jagmohan Dalmiya.

According to the CAB joint secretary, the state board had complied with all the details and documents that were asked for by the taxmen.

Questions asked

* “How much have you invested (in successfully bidding for a particular team to play the IPL Twenty-20 cricket tournament)?” 

* What is the source of those funds, including FDI routes?

* How much income has accrued from the IPL Editions?

* Have you paid the Income-Tax on it?

* How much have you paid each player?

* Have they (players) paid the Service Tax?