NEW DELHI, Dec 26 - The Income Tax department on Saturday said the three business groups that were raided in Guwahati recently had suppressed their net profits across the years and routed back into business the unaccounted income through entry operators based out of Guwahati and Kolkata. Overall, undisclosed income to the tune of approximately Rs 100 crore has been unearthed so far.
The department stated that it started a �search and survey� action on December 22 in the cases of three leading contractors of the North East. One of the groups is also into the hospitality business. The search and survey action was carried out at 14 locations in Guwahati, Delhi, Silapathar and Pathsala.
As reported earlier, the Income Tax department conducted raids in the residences and offices of �A-class� contractors Bhagya Kalita, Anupam Sarma and Jugal Kishore Mahanta.
On Saturday, the department informed that till now, jewellery worth Rs 9.79 lakh has been seized. The sources of acquisition of remaining jewellery found exceeding Rs 2 crore were under verification.
An amount of Rs 2.95 crore in cash has also been seized. One locker was also found, the department said.
Official sources said that the main allegations against the three groups are that they have taken �accommodation entries� in the form of �non-genuine unsecured loans� and also �securities premium� from dubious Kolkata-based shell companies.
During the search action, it was established that the shell companies from which loans and premium had been taken exist only on paper and have no real business and creditworthiness.
The entry operators, on being questioned, admitted that the unsecured loans and share premium from the shell companies to the groups were bogus.
Evidence of the cash trail of routing of funds through securities premium was unearthed during the search action. It has been established that amounts to the tune of about Rs 65 crore were routed back into regular books involving shell companies which actually represent unaccounted income of the groups. Further investigation is on to detect the actual quantum involved in tax evasion using this modus operandi, the sources said.
It was gathered during the search action that one of the groups engages in huge cash transactions in the hospitality business of proportions as high as 50 per cent, which is under examination.
It was further gathered that some entities of the groups engage in purchase of jewellery in cash. The source of the cash purchases is under examination, the Income Tax department said.
