Income Tax Department conducts searches in Pune, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

The Income Tax Department carried out a search and seizure operation on 11.11.2021 on a group at Pune which is engaged in manufacturing of heavy machinery like excavators, cranes, concrete machinery which are used in mining, piling and port, etc. Search operation has covered around 25 locations across 7 cities in India.

During the course of the search, several incriminating documents and materials in the form of electronic data have been found and seized.  Analysis of this evidence shows that the assessee has been suppressing its profit by adopting various malpractices such as, artificial lowering of sales through credit notes, bogus claim of expenses through unsubstantiated trade payables, non-genuine claim of expenses on unused free-of-charge services, non-verifiable commission expenses to related parties, wrongful deferment of revenue and incorrect claims of depreciation, etc. In the case of related entities, evidence of cash receipts by dealers/brokers, unaccounted investment in properties and unaccounted cash loans have also been found and seized.

The search action has resulted in seizure of unaccounted cash and jewellery of Rs. 1 crore. 3 bank lockers found during the search have been placed under restraint.

The search action has led to the detection of total unaccounted income exceeding Rs. 200 crore. Out of the above, the assessee group has, so far, admitted to unaccounted income of Rs. 120 crore.

The Income Tax Department carried out search and seizure operations on 10.11.2021 on three different groups at 30 different premises in Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam. These groups are mainly engaged in real estate business of development of residential plots and construction of apartments.

During the search operation, various incriminating evidences such as digital evidence, hand written books, loose sheets containing undisclosed cash transactions were found and seized.  The analysis of this evidence reveals that expenses have been inflated through bogus claims, to suppress taxable income. It was also detected that the groups had resorted to making transactions in cash which have not been reflected in the books of accounts.

So far, unaccounted cash of Rs. 1.20 crore and jewellery valued at Rs. 90 lakh have been seized. Prohibitory orders have been placed on 9 bank lockers. Overall, the search operation has resulted in the detection of undisclosed income to the tune of about Rs.75 crore.

Further investigations are in progress.