I-T officials raid 8 premises in Srinagar related to a business group

The Income Tax Department on Tuesday conducted search and seizure operations on a business group based in Srinagar, covering eight premises in Srinagar and one each at Bangalore and Delhi.

The assessee group is engaged in the business of transportation, manufacturing of silk yarn, hospitality, retail trading of Kashmir Arts Crafts etc, according to a statement put out by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).

During the searches, the I-T officials found incriminating evidence relating to sale of undisclosed property amounting to Rs 22 crore; agreement to sell transport business for Rs 9.10 crore; undisclosed profit of Rs 15-20 crore on account of sale of Cold Storage plant at Lassipora.

The cost of this project was found to have been inflated to Rs 47 crore instead of the actual cost of Rs 17 crore, for claiming more subsidy from the government by raising inflated and bogus bills. The loan for this project was taken from Jammu and Kashmir Bank.

The officials also found evidence relating to undisclosed properties at Sonmarg (Rs 2.68 crore), Pahalgam (Rs 3.55 crore) and Bangalore (Rs 1 crore) and one shop in partnership in Delhi purchased for Rs 1.02 crore.

The department stated that none of the members of the group is regular in filing their Income Tax returns.

As a one time settlement, the group has got their loans of Rs170 crore with J & K Bank restructured for a sum of Rs 77 crore, out of which, payment of only Rs 50.34 crore to the J & K Bank has been made so far and balance of Rs.27.66 crore is yet to be paid.

During the search, evidence has been detected indicating that the one time settlement of the loan from J & K Bank has been done through the active connivance of a senior J & K Bank officer who was receiving several out of turn promotions. Furthermore, evidence has also been unearthed indicating that the repayment of Rs.50.34 crore pertaining to the said loan has been greenfielded by the J & K Bank by granting loan of similar amount to an associate who has confessed to his role in layering the entire transaction.

Digital evidence found has been seized, analysis of which is currently in progress.