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Income Tax dept attaches benami properties worth ₹45.1 crore of steel company
The ED probe found that the company obtained the mining lease without fulfilling the prescribed conditions and extracted manganese ore illegally.
The income tax department has provisionally attached benami properties worth ₹45.1 crore in the form of fixed deposit, as well as shares held in various steel and mining companies of the managing director of a steel company in Odisha under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act.
Following a public notice under section 24(b)(i) of the Act, the Benami prohibition unit of the income tax department’s Bhubaneswar office provisionally attached properties worth ₹45.10 crore kept in the form of fixed deposit and shares held in various companies namely Yazdani Projects & Estates Pvt Ltd, Yazdani Steel and Power Limited and Yazdani International Pvt Ltd with the Meraj Yusha as beneficial owner. Yusha is currently the MD of Yazdani Steel and Power Limited, a steel company based in Kalinga Nagar area of Jajpur district.
The IT department officials said during the inquiry they found various bogus expenses booked in the Books of account of Sarosh Alizah Mining and the corresponding expenses remained unpaid for many years. The same amount was transferred to various entities linked to Sarosh Alizah Mining in the guise of loans and held as benami asset with Yusha as the beneficial owner.
Officials in Yazdani Steel and Power did not comment on the IT department’s action.
IT officials said the assets confiscated under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016, can be provisionally attached for 90 days, followed by adjudication at the nearest adjudication authority. If proven benami, it vests with the government. The Act aimed to tackle black money and tax evasion, particularly in real estate, has penalty provisions ranging from rigorous imprisonment of 1 to 7 years and a fine up to 25% of the property’s fair market value.
The Act seeks to curb benami transactions — financial arrangements where property is held by one person, but the consideration (payment) is provided by another, typically to conceal the real owner’s identity. Once the Adjudicating Authority decides the case within a year, a person can approach the Appellate Tribunal and then the high court.
Yusha is one of the partners of Serajuddin and Co, one of the oldest mining companies in Odisha whose assets were attached Enforcement Directorate in 2022 over illegal extraction of 14.73 lakh tonne of manganese ore from Guruda mines under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED probe found that the company obtained the mining lease without fulfilling the prescribed conditions and extracted manganese ore illegally. During different years, the company also produced iron ore beyond the quantity approved by the Indian Bureau of Mines.
