I-T Dept raids business group, seizes over Rs 3 Cr

New Delhi, Feb 24 : The Income Tax Department conducted search and seizure operations on a business group engaged in gaming activity on February 15 and seized cash of Rs 3.08 crore and jewellery worth Rs 81 lakh, an official statement said on Thursday. A total of 29 premises spread over Mumbai, Delhi, Surat, Jaipur, Pune and Kolkata were covered. The search action revealed that the group was allegedly operating in a clandestine manner and had concealed its operations and income from law enforcement agencies. “The revenue generated by the group from its activities is largely in cash. The group operates from Mumbai and has a wide network of agents and area managers in different cities for collection of cash from large customer base who use the websites hosted on cloud servers by private operators,” the statement said. The search revealed that the group had been allegedly introducing its unaccounted cash into books of account as unsecured loans, security premium, partner’s capital, agricultural income, share transactions, commission and trading income, etc., in the form of accommodation entries. This cash was allegedly routed through several layers of dummy or shell companies controlled by the entry provider groups or through hawala channels. “The amounts introduced in the books of account have been invested in real estate and securities market. Preliminary investigation has revealed cash turnover of more than Rs. 600 crore in the last 6 months or so,” the statement said. Listed securities worth more than Rs. 550 crore and 30 bank accounts have been provisionally attached so fa, it added. AKM SHK2242