CHENNAI: In a major crackdown on sand miners across the state, including a businessman allegedly close to a top politician here, the Income Tax department conducted searches and recovered cash worth Rs 100 crore and 100 kg of gold bars from three different localities.
Sources told Express that the raids are being conducted on the properties of Sekhar Reddy — a sand miner who is close to an influential politician in Tamil Nadu — and Nagarathinam and Ramachandran.
According to preliminary information, raids were conducted in Anna Nagar, R A Puram near Andhra Club and T Nagar. Searches were also on at Reddy’s establishments in Katpadi, Vellore district. The gold bars are estimated to be worth Rs 30 crore, Income Tax sources said.
It is learnt from sources that the entire sand mining operations in the state are being controlled by a clique headed by the trio. They buy sand at a cheap rate from government mines and do the second sales at stockyards without any receipts, thus avoiding value-added tax (VAT) and other taxes that are to be paid to the government.
A total of 400 cubic feet of sand being sold in a government mine is worth approximately Rs 1,300. However, it is learnt that sand is unofficially sold for more than Rs 10,000. “Each load of sand is sold at Rs 10,000, Rs 8,000 or Rs 6,000, depending on the size of the vehicles it is being loaded on to” sources in the sand mining business added.
It estimated that the state loses thousands of crores of rupees in taxes due to rampant unaccounted sand mining. Sources say the government is shortchanged over many levels — firstly, there is underreporting about the number of lorries used, secondly the quantity of sand loaded in vehicles is way higher than prescribed by the government, and thirdly there is a marked difference between the rate charged by the government per lorry load of 200 cubic feet and the rate at which these sand miners sell it in the open market.
If one goes by a Government Order passed in June 2004, a lorry load costs Rs 640, including five per cent value added tax. And now with demonetisation, sources say, the sand miners are demanding only new notes from the buyers, easily pocketing wads of black money in new currency.