BENGALURU: The Income Tax department, which carried out search and seizure operations in Bengaluru and other places last week, has unearthed unaccounted cash of approximately Rs 94 crore, gold and diamond jewellery worth over Rs 8 crore.
The seizures were made during the raids conducted on some government contractors, real estate developers and their associates on October 12. About 55 premises were searched in the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and New Delhi.
A Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) press release stated that a large number of incriminating evidence in the form of loose sheets, hard copies of documents and digital data have been found and seized. “The modus-operandi of tax evasion detected indicates that these contractors were involved in reducing their income by inflation of expenses by booking bogus purchases, non-genuine claim of expenses with sub-contractors and claiming ineligible expenses. The irregularities detected in utilization of contract receipts has resulted in the generation of huge unaccounted cash and creation of undisclosed assets,” the release stated.
“Evidence indicating inflation of expenses in the form of discrepancies in Goods Receipt Note (GRN) validation has been unearthed during the search. Evidence of huge discrepancies in documentation related to purchases booked and actual physical transport of goods have also been unearthed, with regard to bogus transactions with sub-contractors, some of whom were also covered during the search. Further, these contractors were also involved in booking expenses for non-business purposes. Evidence of claim of liaison expenses has also been found and seized.”
Besides, the operations exposed a large scale of unaccounted cash transactions, which are not found recorded in the books of account.