The Income Tax Department has detected unaccounted income of more than Rs 250 crore in a search and seizure operation against two prominent real estate groups in Kolkata, according to an official statement released today.

During the course of search operations 16 bank lockers belonging to the owners of the two groups have been sealed.

The tax raid carried out on August 18 unearthed, a large number of incriminating documents and digital data which has been seized, the Income Tax Department said.

There is evidence of “out of books” cash transactions and on-money receipts. Several documents and electronic data indicate routing of unaccounted money through shell companies.

Further, some of the evidence found during the search operation indicates use of unaccounted funds in land acquisition, the official statement said.

The key persons admitted to the use of shell companies for infusion of unaccounted funds in the form of share capital, share premium and unsecured loans through sale of bogus investments.

Further investigations are still in progress.