The Income Tax Department has detected unaccounted income exceeding Rs. 200 crore in raids carried out on two business firms in Kashmir and Punjab that were engaged in the dry fruits trade.
The search action has resulted in seizure of gold jewellery valued at Rs. 2 crore and unaccounted cash to the tune of Rs. 63 lakh. Fourteen bank lockers have been placed under restraint.
Tax Department carried out search and seizure operations last week.
During the search operations, many incriminating documents including digital evidence were found indicating that the assessee group has been inflating figures for the purchases of dry fruits over the years. Seized evidence also support the fact that unaccounted cash has been received back by the directors of the group against payment made for such purchases.
Evidence also shows that one of the assessees was maintaining a parallel set of books of accounts and there was a huge difference between the sales and purchases recorded in both the sets of books.
One of the groups is also indulging in unaccounted purchases and sales of dry fruits. Excess stock to the tune of Rs. 40 crore has been found. The analysis of seized material and evidence collected reveals that one of the groups is also running a benami proprietary concern.
In both the groups, the claim of deduction under section 80IB of the Income-tax Act, 1961 has been found to be not genuine and is estimated to be around Rs. 30 crore.
