Over Rs 8 cr cash, gold, diamond jewellery recovered in I-T searches of Coimbatore-based lottery group

Unaccounted cash over Rs 8 crore along with unaccounted gold and diamond jewellery were found in searches at premises linked to a Coimbatore-based business group which handles lotteries run by some state governments, the Income Tax (IT) Department said Saturday.

According to the IT department, Rs 5.8 crore cash has been seized out of total Rs 8.25 crore of unaccounted cash which was recovered in the search. The remaining money has been kept under prohibitory orders for further verification.

"Prima facie, unaccounted gold and diamond jewellery of an approximate value of about Rs 24.57 crore were also found in the search which was also placed under prohibitory orders as verification is under process," the department said in a press statement.

Income Tax Investigation Directorate, Chennai, conducted searches on suspicions of tax evasion.

"The group has been under the department's radar for quite some time due to the continuous and huge fall in its advance tax payments in the last two years" the I-T department said in a statement.

During the search, the assessee admitted of receiving unaccounted income of Rs 595 crore from stockists for manipulation of prize-winning tickets.

The searches commenced on Tuesday across 70 premises located in Coimbatore, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Siliguri, Gangtok, Ranchi and Ludhiana, it said.

The group monopoly control in West Bengal and Northeast states where it works under agreements with them to function as a marketing agent for the lotteries.

It also deals in Real Estate and finances business in Coimbatore in a big way, the department said.

In respect of its real estate and finance business in Coimbatore, the assessee has also admitted offering further unaccounted income to tax after reconciliation of the over Rs 600 crore of unaccounted money.