The Income Tax Department has seized ‘unaccounted cash of Rs. 1 crore’ and jewellery worth Rs. 22 lakh after it conducted a search and seizure operation on a Maharashtra unicorn whose turnover is estimated to be over Rs. 6,000 crore. According to the IT department, its officials raided the offices of the unicorn in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh in the search operation.
The company is believed to be operating in wholesale and retail of construction material. The raid was conducted on 9 March.
“A large number of incriminating evidences in the form of hard copy documents and digital data have been found & seized during the search operations. These evidences revealed that the group has booked bogus purchases, made huge unaccounted cash expenditures and obtained accommodation entries, aggregating to the tune of over Rs. 400 crore. These evidences were confronted to the Directors of the group, who admitted under oath this modus operandi, disclosed additional income of more than Rs. 224 crore in various assessment years, and consequently offered to pay their due tax liability,” the Income Tax department said.
The search action also revealed that the group had obtained huge foreign funding via the Mauritius route, by issuing shares at an exorbitantly high premium.
During the search operation, the Icome Tax department said, a complex hawala network of some Mumbai and Thane-based shell companies, was also unearthed. These shell companies allegedly exist on paper, and were created only for the purpose of providing accommodation entries.
Preliminary analysis has revealed that the total quantum of accommodation entries provided by these shell entities exceeds Rs. 1,500 crore.
So far, unaccounted cash of Rs. 1 crore and jewellery of the value of Rs. 22 lakh have been seized.
Further investigations are in progress.
