NEW DELHI: The income tax department has gathered evidence that New Delhi-based real estate group Omaxe is allegedly indulged in “unaccounted” cash transactions with customers to the tune of over Rs 3,000 crore.The CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes) in a statement said that it raided the premises of a leading real estate group active in North India on March 14. The search action covered more than 45 premises in Delhi NCR, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Lucknow and Indore.
“A large amount of incriminating evidence including hard copy documents and digital data have been found & seized during the search. The seized evidence contains unaccounted ‘on-money’ cash receipt data of the group from various customers for more than 10 years,” the statement said.
It added that the key employees/business heads of various projects have stated the modus operandi of the group and have admitted that the group has generated unaccounted income by accepting ‘on-money’ unaccounted cash from its customers which have not been recorded in the regular books of account. Evidence of receipt of such ‘on-money’ exceeding Rs 3,000 crore has been gathered so far, the CBDT statement said.
The perusal of evidence further reveals that they contain particulars of investors from whom the group has received cash loans amounting to Rs 450 crore. The search action has led to the seizure of unaccounted cash of more than Rs 25 crore and jewellery worth Rs 5 crore. Moreover, 11 lockers have been placed under restraint, and are yet to be operated. CBDT added that further investigations are in progress.
Omaxe is one of the leading real estate developers of Delhi NCR. According to the company website, the brand ‘Omaxe’ was founded in 1987 by first-generation entrepreneur & civil engineer Rohtas Goel, who is also the chairman and whole time director of the company.