The Income Tax department has seized ₹102 crore, including unaccounted cash worth ₹94 crore and jewellery worth ₹10 crore, after raiding 55 premises in Bengaluru and some cities in neighbouring Telangana and Andhra Pradesh as well as in Delhi.
The raids were conducted on October 12 at the premises of government contractors, real estate developers and their associates, they said.
The I-T searches obtained a political colour when the Opposition BJP and JD(S) in Karnataka suggested that the large amounts of cash — Rs 42 crore and Rs 52 crore seized from two premises in Bengaluru — were linked to the ruling Congress party in the state and were meant to finance the elections in five states next month.
According to CBDT, the modus operandi of
‘tax evasion’ revealed that the contractors reduced their income by inflating expenses by making bogus purchases, claiming non-genuine expenses with subcontractors, and claiming invalid expenses.
“Evidence indicating inflation of expenses in the form of discrepancies in goods receipt note (GRN) validation have been unearthed during the search and evidence of huge discrepancies in documentation related to purchases booked and actual physical transport of goods have also been unearthed, with regard to bogus transactions with sub-contractors, some of whom were
also covered during the search,” the statement said.