The Income Tax Department has detected black money to the tune of Rs 300 crore in a search and seizure operation carried out on a group of four major steel rolling mills based at Jalna in Maharashtra with establishments in Pune, Mumbai and Kolkata as well, according to an official statement issued on Monday.

The raids carried out last week discovered unaccounted purchases by the group in excess of Rs. 200 crore and a huge quantity of unaccounted stock was also found in the factory premises of the companies.

According to a statement issued by the Income Tax Department,  “evidence detected so far indicates that the  unaccounted income is likely to exceed Rs. 300 crore and the four companies have already disclosed additional income to the extent of Rs. 71 crore consequent to the search.”

As many as 12 bank lockers were unearthed during the search operation. Unaccounted cash of more than Rs. 2.10 crore and jewellery amounting to Rs. 1.07 crore has been seized from different premises, the official statement said. 

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The search and seizure operation was conducted in more than 32 premises spread across Jalna, Aurangabad, Pune, Mumbai and Kolkata.  

Many incriminating documents, loose sheets and other digital evidence was found and seized. This evidence clearly indicates the involvement of the companies in large scale unaccounted financial transactions made outside the regular books of accounts, including inflation of purchases using entry providers, unaccounted cash expenses and investments, etc.

The evidence found also indicates the laundering of a substantial amount of unaccounted income earned by the companies in the guise of share premium and unsecured loans using shell companies.

Further investigations are still in progress.