IT dept conducts search operations on stock brokers, traders across country

The Income Tax Department carried out search and survey operations on certain share-brokers/traders for their alleged involvement in facilitating accommodation of profits/loss through reversal trades in illiquid stock options in Equity Derivative Segment and also Currency Derivative Segment on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The searches were conducted on December 3.

The agency stated that the "unscrupulous" entities have secured desired profits/losses, which is estimated to be more than Rs 3500 crore.

"Over 39 locations spread across Mumbai, Kolkata, Kanpur, Delhi, Noida, Gurugram, Hyderabad and Ghaziabad were covered. The search/survey action has unravelled the entire modus-operandi which has been adopted by the share-brokers/traders to trade into the illiquid stock options in Equity Derivative Segment and thereby generate artificial losses/profit by executing reversal trades in a very short span of time," said an official release by CBDT spokesperson Surabhi Ahluwalia.

"By this contrived methodology, the unscrupulous entities have secured desired profits/losses, which is estimated to be more than Rs. 3500 Crore. The search/survey action has also resulted into identification of the wrongful long-term capital gains taken in at least 3 penny stocks listed on the BSE, where the manipulated profits utilized by the beneficiaries aggregate to around Rs. 2000 Crore," it read.

I-T department also seized unaccounted cash of Rs. 1.20 crore and recovered incriminating evidence recovered.

"The search action has resulted into seizure of unaccounted cash of Rs. 1.20 Crore. The number of beneficiaries who have been benefitted by these manipulated transactions could be to the tune of a few thousand scattered across India and efforts are being made to identify them as also the corresponding quantum of income evaded," read the release.