Assam: IT raids of contractors reveal black money worth Rs. 100 Crore

New Delhi: Raids conducted on three "leading" contractors from Assam by the Income Tax department has revealed unaccounted black money of Rs. 100 crore, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said on Saturday. The raids were conducted earlier this week on these contractors of Northeast who are mainly based in Assam.

According to reports, the raids were conducted from December 22 at fourteen different locations in Guwahati, Pathsala, Silapathar and in Delhi. The identities of the contractors have however been not disclosed so far.

"Cash of Rs 2.95 crore has been seized. Overall, undisclosed income to the tune of approximately Rs 100 crore has been unearthed so far during the search and survey operation," CBDT said in their statement. Stating that a number of suspect cash transactions have been detected in the raid, the Board revealed on Saturday that one of the parties involved is engaged in Northeast's hospitality business as well. 

"The main allegation against the three groups is that they have taken accommodation (dubious) entries in the form of non-genuine unsecured loans and also securities premium from dubious Kolkata-based shell (dummy) companies," CBDT further revealed.

Notably, unaccounted jewellery worth Rs. 9.79 lakh has also been seized in the raid, and the source of acquisition of other jewellery worth Rs. 2 crore is under verification as of now. It may be mentioned that some of these raided contractors deal with the purchase of jewellery in cash. 

As further revealed by the Board statement, the dummy companies from which the loans/premium have been taken exist "only in papers". Meanwhile, questioning of the entry operators conducted during the search revealed that the shell companies to these group are indeed fraudulent.

"The three groups have suppressed their net profits across the years and routed back into business the unaccounted income through entry operators based out of Guwahati and Kolkata," the CBDT informed.

It may be mentioned that further investigation to unearth the actual bulk amount involved in tax evasion is still underway, as a locker found during the raids is yet to be operated, the Board recorded in the statement.

Also Read: New SOP ahead of New Year: Not more than 50 people allowed in private parties

Also Watch: Christmas celebrated in Langching, Manipur