Jewellers on IT radar as raids continue in UP

AGRA/LUCKNOW: Jewellers have come under the radar of the income tax department which is carrying out a major crackdown in Lucknow, Agra and Mathura in UP since Wednesday.The investigation wing of the income tax department on Thursday conducted raids at 31 establishments of three major bullion traders in Agra, Mathura, Mumbai and Delhi and found large scale bungling by jewellers during the period of demonetisation. Income tax officials in Agra said the exact amount of gold and cash seizure would be estimated and announced on Friday.

AGRA/LUCKNOW: Jewellers have come under the radar of the income tax department which is carrying out a major crackdown in Lucknow, Agra and Mathura in UP since Wednesday.

The investigation wing of the income tax department on Thursday conducted raids at 31 establishments of three major bullion traders in Agra, Mathura, Mumbai and Delhi and found large scale bungling by jewellers during the period of demonetisation.

Income tax officials in Agra said the exact amount of gold and cash seizure would be estimated and announced on Friday.

On Wednesday, the I-T department had made one of the biggest seizures in recent times, claiming to have seized 100 kg gold and Rs 9 crore unaccounted cash from raids on a Lucknow-based company Rastogi and Sons which has diverse business interests.

The market value of the 100 kg gold is estimated at Rs 32 crore.

Principal director (investigation), income tax department, Agra, Amrindra Kumar said teams of officials began simultaneous raids on 31 premises on Thursday morning.

“The teams had 24 warrants including those for 18 locations in Agra, 5 in Mathura and 1 in Mumbai. Today’s action also included seven surveys at five locations in Agra, and one each in Mumbai and Delhi,” Kumar said.

He said the establishments raided on Thursday belonged to Neeraj Agarwal and Neha Garg in Mathura (RS Bullion & Jewellers), Susheela Chauhan and Ajay Garg (both in Agra).

Kumar said the officers found that RS Bullion had alone deposited Rs 123 crore cash in bank accounts during demonetisation.

“They claimed to have sold gold as high as worth Rs 37 crore in a single day. However, records suggest that they converted black money of people into white by taking commission and giving them receipts of gold purchase,” he said. Kumar said the bullion trader claimed that he had taken gold stock from a firm ‘Vanity Jewellers’ in Mumbai but it was found during probe revealed that the firm had closed down in 2012, much before demonetisation was announced.

Kumar, along with joint director (investigation) Tarun Kushwaha, is supervising the raids. The teams comprise of officials from Dehradun, Agra, Meerut, Kanpur and Noida.

After Wednesday’s raids, Kumar had said the simultaneous search operations, including five premises in Lucknow and one in Mumbai, resulted in cash seizure of Rs 9.05 crore and bullion seizure of Rs 100 kg.

Tax officials said the owners of the Lucknow-based company failed to produce any books of transactions as several loose papers were found in which unaccounted transactions were recorded. “The lockers are yet to be opened. We believe that the acceptance of unaccounted income could actually be very high, close to Rs 100 crore,” Kumar said. There was no word from Rastogi and Sons on the income tax operation. Attempts to reach the owners didn’t succeed as calls went unanswered.