NEW DELHI: The Income Tax Department has seized unaccounted deposits exceeding Rs 55 crore and put on restraint more than 20 lockers after it raided Viren Joshi, former fund manager of Axis Mutual Fund, related share brokers, middlemen and entry operators on 28 July.
The raids were conducted on 25 premises across Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Bhu and Kolkata. The income tax department has said in a statement that evidence of large-scale unaccounted investment in cash loans, fixed deposits, immovable properties and their renovation, etc. have also been found and seized during the raids. Joshi has been accused of sharing specific trade-related information with brokers and persons located in certain foreign jurisdictions.
The income tax department said in a statement (without mentioning the name of the fund manager) that the brokers and middlemen used such information for illicit gains in the share market by trading in such scrips either in their own account or account of their clients.
The department said that Viren Joshi’s family members have admitted that the unaccounted cash generated from the above operations was routed mainly through Kolkata-based shell entities into their bank accounts.
It has been alleged that funds from these bank accounts would be diverted into the bank accounts of companies, entities incorporated in India and other low-tax jurisdictions. “The gleaning of seized evidence has exposed the nexus between the ex-fund manager, middlemen, share brokers, and entry operators,” said the department.
Insider trading
Viren Joshi has been accused of sharing specific trade-related information with brokers/middlemen and persons located in certain foreign jurisdictions