The Income Tax (I-T) Department had recently carried out search and seizure operations on two business groups of Nandurbar and Dhule districts, which are engaged in the business of civil construction and land development respectively.
The search operation covered more than 25 premises spread across Nandurbar, Dhule and Nashik. During the search and seizure operation many incriminating documents, loose papers, and digital evidence were found and seized, the agency officials informed on Tuesday.
According to the I-T officials, in the case of entities belonging to the group engaged in the civil construction business, the seized documents clearly reveal that they have allegedly resorted to large-scale suppression of taxable income by inflating their expenses, primarily by way of the claim of non-genuine sub-contract expenses and unverifiable old sundry creditors.
"The search team has detected that these subcontracts have been awarded to family members and their employees who have not rendered services in this regard. Evidence has also been gathered about unrecorded expenses incurred in cash. The preliminary investigation indicates that this group has evaded income to the extent of Rs 150 crore on account of the said malpractices," the agency claimed in a statement.
"In the case of the land developers, it has been found that a substantial part of the land transactions have been carried out in cash which are not accounted for in the regular books of account. Further, incriminating documents evidencing receipt of ‘on-money’ on land transactions and cash loans exceeding Rs 52 crore have been found and seized. The search action has, so far, resulted in the seizure of unaccounted cash of more than Rs 5 crore and jewellery valued at Rs 5 crore," the statement added.
In another operation, the I-T department had carried out search and seizure operations on a group engaged in the business of manufacturing electrical switches, wires, LEDs, real estate and hotel business in Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand, and its business entities.
"A large number of incriminating documents and digital data have been found and seized during the search action. A preliminary analysis of seized evidence reveals that several entities, engaged in the business of manufacturing switches, wires, LEDs, etc., have been selling such goods which are not recorded in the regular books of account. During the investigation, it was also noticed that they were claiming bogus expenses to reduce taxable income. The trail of receipt of cash component on unaccounted sale of goods has also been found. In the case of this group, the search team has detected transactions evidencing undisclosed income of more than Rs 150 crore. The key person of the group has admitted Rs 55 crore as undisclosed income and has offered to pay tax thereon," the agency claimed in a statement.
