I-T raids premises of business group in Nanded, seize cash, jewellery worth ₹20 cr

The I-T sources said the searches were conducted against the firms on suspicions related to their involvement in financial irregularities, including tax evasion and unaccounted financial transactions

MUMBAI: The Income Tax (I-T) Department seized cash and jewellery worth ₹20 crore in Nanded during multiple raids carried out at residential and official premises of a business group that runs firms involved in private finance, including by a multi-state co-operative bank. The searches began over the weekend and continued till Friday night, I-T sources said.

HT Image

The I-T sources said the searches were conducted against the firms on suspicions related to their involvement in financial irregularities, including tax evasion and unaccounted financial transactions. The seizures of the cash and the jewellery were made on suspicions of them being proceeds from unaccounted financial transactions aimed at evading tax payment, an IT source said.

The department’s teams also recovered documents, records and other articles during the searches on suspicions they were connected to irregularities.

The I-T officials found stacks of currency notes worth several crores in Rupees at one of the searched premises and it took hours to quantify them, the source said. The I-T Department will find out the extent of tax evasion that the firms have been accused of over the last few financial years and the source/s of their earnings to ascertain the financial irregularities, the source added.

According to sources, the business group under the scanner had in 2010 set up a chit-fund firm and registered with the Registrar of Companies, Mumbai. The chit-fund firm later closed its operations and was ‘struck off’. Its authorised share capital and paid-up capital was ₹1 lakh.