The searches and seizure operations carried out by the Income Tax (I-T) Department against Shiv Sena corporator Yashwant Jadhav, some contractors of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and their close associates has resulted in detection of about 3 dozen immovable properties, whose value could be more than Rs 130 crore. It includes properties acquired either in their name or their associates or benamidars, the agency claimed in a statement on Thursday. During the search operation, undisclosed cash of Rs 2 crore and jewellery of Rs 1.5 crore have been seized so far. The preliminary investigation indicates that contractors involved have evaded tax to the extent of Rs 200 crore on account of malpractices, agency claimed.
The I-T sleuths had begun their searches on February 25 at the premises linked to Mazgaon based Jadhav, some BMC contractors and their associates. The agency sources claimed that at least 35 premises in Mumbai were covered during the operations, including Goregaon, Malad, Borivali, Mulund and the premises of a well-known infrastructure company office at Vile Parle. The said company has BMC, municipal corporations of some other metro cities and several other government agencies in its client list.
"During the course of the search operation, numerous incriminating documents, loose sheets and digital evidences have been found and seized. The evidences so seized strongly indicates a close nexus between these contractors and the said person," the I-T department claimed in their statement, without officially mentioning Jadhav's name.
"Particulars of about 3 dozen immovable properties, whose value could be more than Rs 130 crore have also been detected. It includes properties acquired either in their name or their associates or benamidars. Evidences of their involvement in international hawala transactions and routing of the ill-gotten money to certain foreign jurisdictions have also been recovered. Loose sheets and excel files with details of unaccounted cash receipts and payments aggregating to several crores have also been found and seized, which have not been recorded in the regular books of account," the statement claimed.
"In the case of contractors, the seized documents reveal the modus-operandi adopted by them for large-scale suppression of taxable income by inflating their expenses. For this purpose, the prominent recourse is over-invoicing of sub-contract expenses through a maze of entities and by claiming non-genuine expenses. Certain instances show that cash has been taken out from these entities and the same has been utilized for obtaining undue favours for awarding of contracts and also for making unaccounted payments for investments in properties. The preliminary investigation indicates that these contractors have evaded tax to the extent of Rs 200 crore on account of the above malpractices," the statement claimed.
One of the key persons who was also searched by the I-T officials is a businessman who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials in 2017 in connection with a money laundering case related to cricket betting.
Jadhav, who heads the all powerful decision-making body that gives final approval to proposals, has repeatedly faced allegations of corruption from the BJP.
Maha-Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders, on the other hand, had accused BJP of 'misusing' central investigation agencies against them.
