I-T Swoop Hints At Realtor-Grey Market Nexus

One of the most successful raids conducted by the income tax department during the last financial year was on the Tulshyans, real estate promoters of the city.

This was second only to the Shaw Wallace case which is considered a landmark in the history of income tax raids, points out a senior I-T official.

Searches conducted on this promoter yielded evidences pointing to income tax evaded to the tune of Rs 13.5 crore and the promoters have themselves admitted income tax evasion to the tune of Rs 9.5 crore, say sources.

The income tax department has been scrutinising realtors businesses for quite some time.

Raids on the Tulshyans had been conducted in July 1996.

According to sources, Radheshyam Tulshyan had indulged in benami shares transactions and had availed of stockinvest facilities from banks to aid grey market operations in a major way.

It is alleged that Tulshyan had parked unaccounted income in bank accounts opened in the name of an employee.

Thereafter, as share prices rose, money from this account was used to buy stock. These shares were then resold at a whopping profit after a fortnight leading to transactions worth crore of rupees.

This was a rotational process and part of the profits earned were deposited in bank accounts and part of it were again invested in speculation.

This was the departments first direct attack on grey market operations which are elusive and it is very difficult to track down offenders in this process.

Sources at the department also point out that there is a direct link between real estate developers and the grey market operations which are growing stronger by the day. The income tax department had been conducting an open enquiry case on the Tulshyans for around one-and-a-half years before the actual raids as they were trying to study the intricacies of grey market operations and the real modus operandi adopted by the players to remain elusive, said top-level sources.

Realtors have especially come under income tax department scrutiny in the last two years as the authorities are confident of finding unaccounted for income with them.

They have come under the spotlight along with big corporate houses and jewellery firms.