I-T dept carries out raids in Goa, TN; makes seizures worth ₹34 cr

DURING THE RAIDS, THE I-T DEPT SEIZED UNACCOUNTED CASH WORTH ~30 CRORE AND MADE A SEIZURE OF UNDISCLOSED ASSETS OF ~4.39 CRORE DURING THE RAIDS IN GOA

The Income Tax department on Saturday carried out raids in Tamil Nadu and Goa and seized unaccounted cash and assets worth around Rs 35 crore, the department said in separate statements.

The department said that in Tamil Nadu it searched 17 premises linked to a Namakkal-based business group that runs educational institutions and coaching centres for competitive exams like the NEET.

“The search action covered 17 premises of the group’s promoters, located in Namakkal, Perundurai, Karur and Chennai,” the Central Board of Direct Taxes said in a statement. The raids were carried out after the department received intel that the group was indulging in tax evareceipts sion by suppressing fee receipts received from students, it added.

“Significant amount of cash was found in a safe inside an auditorium in the main school premises. Unaccounted cash of about ~30 crore has been found and seized, ” the CDBT said in a statement. “The modus operandi was to receive part of the fees in cash and such cash receipts were invariably not entered in the regular books of accounts. Instead, such were maintained in a separate set of accounts,” the CBDT said.

The unaccounted receipts were deployed for acquiring immovable assets as personal investments, which are then leased for long-term to the trust for expanding to other towns, the department said.

In a separate statement, the CBDT said that it across six premises linked to two groups involved in the sale and purchase of hotel resorts in Goa.

“The search resulted in seizure of undisclosed assets of ~4.39 crore comprising undisclosed cash of ~2.55 crore and jewellery/ valuables worth ~1.84 crore. The group made a disclosure of a total amount of ~124.41 crore representing undisclosed income and also committed to pay taxes immediately,” the statement added.