I-T team detects Rs 550 crore unaccounted cash in Haryana raids

The Income Tax Department on Monday said that they conducted search and seizure operations at the premises of a diversified business group across Haryana and Punjab's Mohali and detected unaccounted cash around Rs 550 crore.

The I-T team has also recovered incriminating documents during the raid on the group which deals with manufacturing of plywood, MDF boards, inverters, and vehicle batteries, and in the refining of lead.

An I-T official said that more than 30 premises across the cities of Yamuna Nagar, Ambala, Karnal, and Mohali were covered in the search operation.

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The search action has resulted in seizure of unaccounted cash of more than Rs 6.60 crore and jewellery valued to the tune of Rs 2.10 crore. A total of 22 bank lockers have been kept under restraint.

"During the search operation, various incriminating documents and digital evidence have been found and seized in relation to entities of plywood business. These include a parallel set of books of account recording the entries of cash transactions of purchase, sale, payment of wages, and other expenses of group entities, in addition to transactions of investment in immovable properties," an I-T official said.

The official said that these evidences have clearly revealed the modus operandi of the group, that it is involved in the generation of cash by suppression of sales to the extent of about 40 per cent of the actual sales.

The preliminary analysis of incriminating evidence indicates that this group has suppressed sales to the tune of Rs 400 crore in the last three years.

In case of a battery manufacturing concern, the search team unearthed incriminating evidence regarding payment of wages and purchase of raw materials in cash aggregating to Rs 110 crore which has not been recorded in the books of account.

In the case of battery manufacturing as well as lead refining concerns and its related entities, suspicious purchases exceeding Rs 40 crore from non-existent concerns have also been identified.

The correlation of this evidence has also revealed that unaccounted cash so generated is systematically invested in the acquisition of immovable properties of key persons of plywood and lead refining businesses.

Further investigations are under way.

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