NEW DELHI: The Income Tax Department said on Friday it has raided 30 premises located in Jhansi, Delhi, Lucknow, Kanpur, and Goa belonging to a Jhansi-based group engaged in the business of civil contract and real estate development.
The search operation was carried out on 3rd August 2022, according to an official statement released by the Union Ministry of Finance.
"During the course of the search operation, several incriminating pieces of evidence have been found and seized including documentary evidence of several immovable properties of various third parties," the ministry said.
The search operation has resulted in the seizure of unaccounted cash and jewellery exceeding Rs 15 crore, for the present. Further investigations are in progress, the ministry said.
The preliminary analysis of evidence in the business of civil contract has revealed that the group was engaged in large-scale tax evasion by suppressing of its profits by manipulating the regular books of account at the end of every year.
These manipulations were in the nature of claims of bogus expenses and bogus sundry creditors, etc. These sundry creditors were found to be non-existent and unverifiable.
The claim of bogus expenses and bogus sundry creditors exceeding Rs 250 crore has been quantified from the seized evidence. The key person covered during the search has also voluntarily offered additional income exceeding Rs 150 crore, out of the above, the ministry said.
Another modus operandi adopted by the companies engaged in real estate included receipt of on-money over and above the stamp duty value resulting in tax evasion. Further, these companies were not offering income to tax as per accounting standards, even when substantial construction work had been completed.
So far, the investigation from evidence collected during the search has revealed the quantum of unaccounted receipts aggregating to more than Rs 150 crore, the finance ministry said.