NEW DELHI: After over 600 jewellers received income tax (I-T) notices following reports of massive gold sales in lieu of old currency notes, the I-T department has issued notices asking for their account details and CCTV footage.
A Karol Bagh-based jeweller said, “Of course, all such transactions were made under the table. They had to be kept secret. To escape raids and other legal hassles, we’ve shown in our books that the money was generated from cash sales till November 8. Hence, CCTV footage had to be destroyed.”
Jewellers told The Sunday Standard that many shop owners have destroyed CCTV content on some pretext or the other. Major jewellery markets also downed their shutters to escape I-T raids. Some even took advice from chartered accountants to show backdated transactions.
A jeweller in Chandni Chowk said many businessmen like him have resorted to stratagems such as destroying CCTV footage to escape the Income Tax net. He said manipulation was done at many levels. “We sold gold at very high margins after the announcement of ban. People were willing to buy gold and we were happy to make profits. Now, what can I-T officials do if our CCTV cameras are defective and have not been working for the past few days? We had installed the cameras for our own safety and security,” he added.
I-T surveys were carried out at many jewellery showrooms and wholesale bazaars in cities. Kutcha Mahajani, the biggest wholesale market for gold jewellery in Delhi-6, also witnessed massive business after which, raids were conducted at some shops. “We closed our shops for over 10 days to avoid raids,” said a jeweller.