Bhubaneswar: Income Tax Department today said it has seized undisclosed cash amounting to more than Rs. 351 crore and unaccounted jewellery exceeding Rs. 2.80 crore during raids conducted on a liquor trader.
The raids were conducted on a group engaged in the business of manufacture and sale of country liquor, grain-based alcohol, bottling of foreign liquor, running hospitals and educational institutions, etc. on December 6 this year, the IT said in a statement.
A substantial part of the cash, to the tune of Rs 329 crore, was unearthed and seized from obscure & dilapidated buildings, hidden chambers and hidden safe-house camouflaged as an unoccupied/nondescript residence located in small towns of Odisha including Sudapada and Titlagarh in Bolangir District and Khetrajrajpur in Sambalpur District.
This operation covered more than 30 premises spread across 10 districts in the States of Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal. The business of the group is controlled by a family based in Ranchi, Jharkhand. One of the family members of the group is also a Politically Exposed Person residing at Ranchi, it said.
During the search operation, the IT Department has seized a large number of incriminating evidence in the form of documents and digital data. Preliminary analysis of seized evidence reveals records of unaccounted sales of country liquor, systematic details of undisclosed cash receipts and references for movement of unaccounted cash.
The main employees looking after the business activities of the group have admitted that the cash found and seized during the search operation, represents the unaccounted income of the group, generated through its multiple business concerns.
This was also corroborated by one of the family members who is actively involved in the business. The facts unearthed during the search operation indicate that the group has been indulging in huge suppression of income earned from the liquor business, the Department said.
