IT Dept raids more than 20 places of real estate premises in Gujarat

The Income Tax Department on Thursday raided more than 20 premises of a Gujarat-based group engaged in the manufacturing of chemicals and the development of the real estate.

The search operation was spread over Vapi and Sarigam in Gujarat, Silvassa and also in Mumbai.

According to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), a large number of incriminating evidence in the form of documents, diary notings and digital data showing earning of huge unaccounted income by the group and its investment in assets have been found and seized.

The evidences clearly indicate evasion of taxable income by adopting various modus-operandi such as suppression of production, use of bogus purchase invoices without actual delivery of the goods to inflate purchases, availing of bogus GST (Goods and Services Tax) credit, claim of bogus commission expenses, etc. The assessee group has also received on-money in immovable property transactions, said CBDT statement.

During the search proceedings, several incriminating evidences about cash transactions in investment in immovable properties and cash loans have also been seized. Unaccounted cash of about Rs 2.5 crore and jewellery of Rs 1 crore were seized during the raid. Sixteen bank lockers have been placed under restraint.

The CBDT said the preliminary analysis of the documents/evidence unearthed during the search has indicated that the estimation of unaccounted income is likely to be more than Rs 100 crore. Further investigations are in progress.