Seized ₹1.75 crore cash in searches at locations linked to Patna builder, associates: I-T

Income tax officials carried out at the searches at 32 locations in an operation that lasted five days

PATNA: The income tax department has allegedly seized ₹1.75 crore cash and detected tax evasion worth crores of rupees in searches at more than two dozen premises linked to Patna-based builder Gabbu Singh and his associates, income tax officials said on Thursday.

Security personnel outside the premises of builder Gabbu Singh, rumoured to be close aide of JD (U) president Lalan Singh during a raid by a central agency in Patna on Friday. (ANI)

The seizures were made during searches that started on Friday last week. Officials said the raids conducted over five days till Tuesday were conducted at 32 locations in Patna, Ghaziabad and Noida.

A large number of documents have been seized which are being scrutinised, officials said., adding that the builder’s construction firm was alleged to have indulged in bogus billing at the large scale.

Tax officials said a first information report was also filed against Arun Kumar, a contractor associated with Gabbu Singh, for allegedly running away with cash and other documents when raids were carried out at his residence in Boring canal road.

The builder is rumoured to be close to Janata Dal (United) chief Lalan Singh. Asked if the tax officials carried out raids at a builder close to him on Friday, Singh shot back: “What do you mean by somebody close? Let them do their job. This is all natural and in public knowledge that wherever people are opposed to them, central agencies like ED, Income Tax, CBI are being used. The way people change clothes, they use them (federal agencies). We are not under pressure,” the JD(U) president said.