I-T dept claims Rs 300 cr unaccounted money after raids on Maharashtra-based steel group

The Ministry of Finance on Monday informed that the Income Tax department, after conducting search and raid operations on a group of steel rolling mills throughout the country, has exposed unaccounted income of over Rs 300 crore.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes issued a statement claiming, "The Income Tax department has detected unaccounted income of over Rs 300 crore following raids on a group of four major steel rolling mills based in Maharashtra."

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) frames policies for the tax department.

Raid conducted raid on 32 premises across the country

The raids on the four business groups that are involved in manufacturing steel TMT bars and billets, were conducted on September 23 across a total of 32 premises located in Jalna, Aurangabad, Mumbai, Pune and Kolkata. The manufacturing primarily used steel scrap as raw material. 

"Evidence detected so far by the Income Tax Department indicates that unaccounted income is likely to exceed Rs 300 crore and that the four companies have already disclosed additional income to the extent of Rs 71 crore consequent to the search," the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement.

CBDT claims 'incriminating' documents found during raids

The CBDT statement added that 'unaccounted' cash of more than Rs. 2.10 crore and ornaments worth Rs 1.07 crore have been seized from their possession and that a dozen bank lockers were found during the searches.

"Many incriminating documents, loose sheets and other digital pieces of evidence were found and seized," the CBDT statement said.

"These pieces of evidence clearly indicate the involvement of the companies in large scale unaccounted financial transaction made outside the regular books of accounts, including inflation of purchase using entry providers, unaccounted cash expenses and investments, etc," the CBDT claimed.

The CBDT alleged that the department of tax has found "laundering of a substantial amount of unaccounted income earned by the companies in the guise of share premium and unsecured loans using shell companies".

"Evidence for unaccounted purchase in excess of Rs 200 crore has been found. Huge quantity of unaccounted stock was also found in the factory premises of the companies," the CBDT statement said.

Inputs: PTI

Image: PIXABAY/SHUTTERSTOCK/REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE