I-T raids on 4 business houses in Amritsar
AN OFFICIAL CLAIMED THAT ₹6 CRORE WAS SEIZED AS UNACCOUNTED MONEY; RAIDS TO GO ON FOR TWO MORE DAYS
CHANDIGARH: In simultaneous raids at 30-odd premises of four business groups based in Amritsar, and at other places in the city, sleuths of the income tax department claim to have recovered ₹6 crore in unaccounted cash on Wednesday.
An official, not wanting to be named, claimed that this was t he largest cash seizure in Punjab.the businesses raided include textile manufacturers, coal dealers and real estate dealers and operate in Surat and Guwahati as well.
With raids expected to continue for two more days, more cash could be seized.
The groups raided were Gopi Krishna Group of Naresh Aggarwal which is into textile processing; Khurana Group of Narinder Khurana and Amit Khurana that deals in coal; Chopra Group of Nitin Chopra and Miku Chopra and Veer Colonisers Group of Subhash Sharma.
ILLEGALITIES ALLEGED
Illegalities that the groups allegedly indulged in include possession of benami properties, unaccounted manufacturing and sale, generation of black money, illegal coal mining and investment of unaccounted money into real estate, including in Special Economic Zone worth hundreds of crores of rupees.
These groups are also accused of investing black money in property in the name of poor employees. An official added that the groups also indulged in suppression of profit, and unaccounted cash purchases and sales. “Nitin Chopra and Miku Chopra of Chopra Group have been real estate agents and have been evading fair income tax returns, executing shady deals with huge unaccounted properties and dealing in just cash. Veer Colonisers have invested heavily in Amritsar SEZ,” the officer alleged. While the cash seized was still being counted, sources claimed that a major chunk came from the Gopi Krishna group.
The groups are also accused of depositing crores in old banned notes during demonetisation.
TAINTED PATWARI ALSO RAIDED
On Wednesday, I-T raids were also conducted on properties of tainted patwari Nirmal Singh Bajwa, aka Nimma, who had been arrested by the vigilance department in April 2002 for amassing property worth crores, even as he got ₹7,000 salary.