₹18 cr, 2 kg gold found in IT raid on sales tax officer’s house

KANPUR: The income tax department conducted a raid at the residence of additional commissioner sales tax Keshav Lal on late Wednesday night and seized unaccounted cash (over Rs 18 crore) in new currency notes and two kilogrammes of gold. The IT officers also recovered documents pertaining to immovable properties in big cities, including NOIDA.

The cash was kept inside quilts, beds and almirahs. The IT officers expect more cash recovery from other places as well as bank lockers of the official. The raid was on till late Thursday evening till the filing of this report.

On Wednesday, IT officers had called up Keshav Lal, who had gone to Lucknow to attend the convention of Sales Tax Seva Sangh.

Lal reached Kanpur later in the evening and was taken for questioning by the IT officials.

According to sources, Lal had managed to get postings on lucrative posts during his long stay in the city and he was under the scanner of the IT department since long.

Meanwhile, in separate raids on Tuesday, IT officers had recovered about Rs 87 lakh cash at the house of RTO Sunita Verma and her husband, joint commissioner, sales tax, DK Verma.

The couple came under the scanner following IT raids at Shatabdi Travels outlet in Leela Palace where tax evasion of over Rs 20 crore was detected and officials also found documents linking Sunita and her husband to the luxury travel business.

The IT department sources said over a dozen senior government officers were under their scanner for amassing wealth through illegal means.

LAL HAD MANAGED TO GET POSTINGS ON LUCRATIVE POSTS DURING HIS LONG STAY IN THE CITY.