I-T dept: ₹45 cr undeclared income found in raids on SP MLC

In a statement, the I-T department said Jain’s group, primarily based in Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh, “is involved in tax evasion by underreporting sale of perfumes, stock manipulation, fudging books of account to shift profits from taxable unit to tax exempt unit, inflation of expenditure, etc”.

Six days after raids on premises linked to Samajwadi Party (SP) lawmaker Pushpraj ‘Pampi’ Jain, the income tax department said on Wednesday that it found undeclared income worth ₹45 crore linked to him.

The SP, on the day of the raids, said the I-T action was an “open misuse of central agencies by a scared Bharatiya Janata Party” ahead of polls. (AFP Photo. Representative image)

In a statement, the I-T department said Jain’s group, primarily based in Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh, “is involved in tax evasion by underreporting sale of perfumes, stock manipulation, fudging books of account to shift profits from taxable unit to tax exempt unit, inflation of expenditure, etc”. Raids were carried out at 40 places, including the premises of Jain, on December 31. Pushpraj is a member of the legislative council in Uttar Pradesh as a Samajwadi Party nominee. He launched the Samajwadi ittar (perfume) on November 9.

“Evidence found in the sales office and main office has revealed that the group makes 35% to 40% of its retail sales in cash by ‘kucha’ (temporary) bills and these cash receipts are not recorded in the regular books of account, running into crores of rupees. Evidence of booking purchases from bogus parties to the extent of about ₹5 crore has also been unearthed,” it added.