I-T claims detection of Rs 700 cr tax evasion after raids on Mumbai realty firm

The Income-Tax department on Friday said it has conducted raids at 40 premises of a Mumbai-based real estate firm and claimed to have detected tax evasion worth Rs 700 crore.

The CBDT, that frames policy for the tax department, issued a statement saying the operation was conducted on July 29 on a "prominent group involved in real estate development" and its premises in Mumbai and Pune were searched.

While the CBDT statement did not identify the group, official sources said it was the Hubtown group.

During the course of search operations, the statement said, the department unearthed evidences related to receipt of 'On Money' on sale of commercial and residential blocks, bogus unsecured loans taken, bogus Long Term Capital Gains (LTCG) and various other sham transactions to evade income aggregating to about Rs 700 crore.

"The search action has unravelled peculiar transactions wherein by way of accounting jugglery, income on transactions worth about Rs 525 crore has been evaded," it said.

'On Money' receipt on sale of residential and commercial blocks amounting to Rs 100 crore has been corroborated during the search, the statement said.

During the search, the CBDT said "incriminating" evidence was unearthed pertaining to modus operandi establishing the introduction of accommodation loans by the group, which have been found to be bogus.

Moreover, use of entry providers and hawala operators for entries of LTCG by the promoters of this real estate group have been affirmed during the search action, it said.

The action has also resulted into detection of jewellery worth about Rs 14 crore, which is under verification, the CBDT said and added that the searches are still in progress.