BHOPAL: Over half of the around 100 properties worth around Rs 150 crore under the scanner of Income Tax department searches on two builders-realtors in Bhopal are suspected to be benami properties,
sources said.
Unaccounted money of rich and influential people, particularly retired bureaucrats and police officers, are suspected to have been parked in these properties.
Sources said the I-T department searches have led to a major bulk of suspected benami properties in perhaps the first such investigation in MP and Chhattisgarh.
Among the two raided groups, 90% of the suspected benami properties are linked to a group headed by a bangle shop owner-turned-realtor, and 10% are linked to the other group headed by a builder, considered close to a MP minister.
The ongoing probe has revealed that the Old Bhopal-based realtor ventured into the sector in 2004 and rose rapidly, possibly due to involvement of some senior bureaucrats, who are now retired.
The young builder’s business seems to have worked as a conduit for parking unaccounted money in benami properties over the last 6-7 years.