The Income Tax Department has detected black money to the tune of Rs 400 crore in a search and seizure operation carried out on a leading industrial group of Chennai, engaged in the business of manufacturing of liquor (whisky, rum, gin etc.) logistics, hospitality and entertainment, according to an official statement released today.

The search operations were carried on June 15 at more than 40 premises located in Chennai, Villupuram, Puducherry, Coimbatore and Hyderabad.

The group is also found to be controlling back-office operations of its international chain of hotels, from India, the Income Tax Department said.

During the course of the search operations, various incriminating documents and digital evidence has been seized.

The analysis of the evidence indicates that the group has indulged in large-scale tax evasion exceeding Rs. 400 crore by debiting non-genuine purchase bills in the books of account of varied businesses, the official statement said.

These non-genuine purchase bills were either obtained from its regular material suppliers or from accommodation entry providers. Investigations also revealed that the payments made to the material suppliers through cheque have been received back in cash for making unaccounted investments.

So far, the search action has led to the seizure of undisclosed cash of Rs. 3 crore and unaccounted gold jewellery worth Rs. 2.5 crore.

Further investigations are still in progress.

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