NEW DELHI: The Income Tax (I-T) department on Thursday said that the unaccounted cash of Rs 329 crore recovered from Congress Rajya Sabha MP and liquor baron Dhiraj Sahu earlier this month was mostly hidden in obscure and dilapidated buildings, safe-houses in several parts of Odisha.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the I-T department said raids conducted on December 6 covered more than 30 premises spread across 10 districts of Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal. The department seized undisclosed cash amounting to more than Rs 351 crore and unaccounted jewellery exceeding Rs 2.80 crore during the raids.
Dhiraj Sahu owns Boudh Distillery Private Limited, which is engaged in the business of manufacture and sale of country liquor, grain-based alcohol, bottling of foreign liquor, running hospitals and educational institutions.
“A substantial part of the cash, to the tune of Rs 329 crore, was unearthed and seized from obscure and dilapidated buildings, hidden chambers and hidden safe-house camouflaged as an unoccupied/nondescript residence located in small towns of Odisha including Sudapada and Titlagarh in Bolangir district and Khetrajrajpur in Sambalpur district,” said the I-T department in a press statement without naming Sahu or his company.
The department claims that a large quantity of incriminating evidence in the form of documents and digital data has been found and seized during the raid. Analysis of the seized evidence, says the tax department, revealed that the group had been indulging in suppression of income earned from the liquor business.
“Preliminary analysis of seized evidence reveals records of unaccounted sales of country liquor, systematic details of undisclosed cash receipts and references for movement of unaccounted cash,” the department said.
The tax department also claimed that main employees looking after the business activities of the group have admitted that the cash found and seized during the search operation, represents the unaccounted income of the group, generated through its multiple businesses.