The modus operandi of tax evasion detected in running such educational institutions includes concealment of fee receipts,
IT raids in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. (iStock)
The Income Tax Department has seized unaccounted cash of ₹32 crore and gold bullion worth ₹28 crore after its recent searches of two business groups, including one linked to DMK MP S Jagathrakshakan, in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
The Central Board of Direct Taxation (CBDT) said, in a statement on Wednesday, 18 October, that the raids were initiated on 5 October at about 100 premises of the two groups — one of them running educational institutions that offer professional courses and the other involved in distillery, pharmaceuticals, hospitals, hotels, etc.
The same day, the tax sleuths had raided the house of DMK MP S Jagathrakshakan and others linked to him. The MP from Arakkonam has interests in a variety of business sectors.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief MK Stalin reacted that day and said on X, “The Union BJP Government’s vindictive politics knows no bounds! Arresting AAP MP Sanjay Singh and raiding DMK MP Jagathrakshakan’s home are clear examples of their misuse of independent investigating agencies for political ends against INDIA bloc leaders.”
The Union BJP Government's vindictive politics knows no bounds!
Arresting AAP MP Sanjay Singh and raiding DMK MP Jagathrakshakan's home are clear examples of their misuse of independent investigating agencies for political ends against INDIA bloc leaders.
This deliberate… https://t.co/xZYkWDA7CI
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) October 5, 2023
In its statement, the CBDT said that so far, the searches against the two groups “have resulted in seizure of unaccounted cash amounting to ₹32 crore and gold bullion of ₹28 crore, thereby aggregating to ₹60 crore.”
The statement did not identify the accused groups or their promoters. The CBDT frames policy for the tax department.
Sources said one of the groups involved was linked to Jagathrakshakan. There was, however, no breakup of what amount of unaccounted cash and bullion was seized from which group.
Talking about the group that runs educational institutions, the statement said that a large number of “incriminating” evidence in the form of loose sheets, hard copies of documents, and digital data was seized.
The modus operandi of tax evasion detected in running such educational institutions includes concealment of fee receipts, bogus claims of disbursement of scholarships, etc, it claimed.
The statement said, “Large-scale evidence about the receipt of fees which are unrecorded in the books of account and claim of non-genuine disbursement of scholarships have been seized.”
“The preliminary analysis, so far, has resulted in collecting evidences for such unaccounted fee receipts of more than ₹400 crore and incorrect claim of disbursement of scholarship to the tune of ₹25 crore,” it added.
In one of the groups, it added, evidence indicates that the trust was utilising the services of agents for garnering students, for which an unaccounted commission payment of about ₹25 crore has been made.
In the distillery business run by one of the groups, the statement said that it was found that “bogus” expenditure has been claimed for about ₹500 crore towards the purchase of inputs such as bottles, flavours, extra neutral alcohol, freight charges, etc.
“Such purchases are not corroborated with purchase invoices or entries in stock registers. Several pieces of evidence have been recovered showing that cheques have been issued to various non-existent entities and the same have been received back in the form of cash for making unaccounted investments and for other expenditures which are not allowable as business expenses,” the CBDT alleged.
The seized documents suggest that the amount exceeding ₹300 crore has been “diverted” from trusts either for personal expenses of the trustees or for deployment in diverse businesses.
This also includes payments made by one of the groups for acquiring an industrial entity in Andhra Pradesh, the board said.
(Disclaimer: The headline, subheads, and intro of this report along with the photos may have been reworked by South First. The rest of the content is from a syndicated feed, and has been edited for style.)
May 19, 2024
May 18, 2024
May 18, 2024
May 18, 2024
May 18, 2024
May 16, 2024
![[Left] File photo of BJP MLA Harish Poonja, who has been booked, and [right] Poonja sitting for a protest in front of Belthangady Police Station in the early hours of Sunday, 19 May, 2024.](https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media.thesouthfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Harish-Poonja-and-Belthangady.jpg "Harish Poonja and Belthangady")
