IT Dept raids leading industrial group in Chennai; identifies over Rs 400 cr tax evasion

The Income Tax (IT) Department conducted raids on a leading corporate group in Chennai and identified tax evasion worth over Rs 400 core by debiting non-genuine purchase bills in the account books across group firms, the IT Department informed in a statement. The revelations were made after the IT Department seized documentary and digital evidence.

Search and seizure operations were carried out by the IT dept on June 15 at over 40 premises connected with the corporate group in Chennai, Villupuram, Puducherry, Coimbatore and Hyderabad. The group is involved in the business of manufacturing Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL), logistics, hospitality, entertainment etc.

In the raids and the subsequent assessment of the documentary and digital evidence, an irregularity worth over Rs 400 crore was identified, which was done by debiting non-genuine purchase bills in the account books of multiple firms, obtained from material suppliers or from accommodation entry providers. To get the money back into the company's system, the money was paid to the suppliers via Cheque and retrieved back in cash for making unaccounted investments and for other purposes, it was found after sifting through the evidence.

The back-office operations of the international chain of hotels run by the group was also handled from India. The IT Department during the seizure also recovered unaccounted cash of Rs 3 crore and unaccounted gold jewellery of Rs 2.5 crore. The investigation is ongoing. 

IT dept raids Embassy group offices 

The raids come days after the IT Department officials conducted raids at the residences and offices of officials working with the Embassy group in a suspected case of tax evasion. The raids were also carried out at the Embassy Arcade Apartment in  Sadashivnagar in Karnataka's Bengaluru. The apartment was owned by Narpat Singh, the Director of the Embassy Group.

In the backdrop of the large merger deal that the Embassy group engaged in had put the company on the IT's radar. Embassy group is one of the largest real estate companies in Karnataka. The group entities NAM Estate and Embassy One Commercial Property Developments recently entered into a merger deal with Indiabulls Real Estate. 

(Image: PTI/Pixabay)