In its search and seizure operations in Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Pune, Kadapa Visakhapatnam and Delhi on February 6, the Income-Tax Department (ITD) detected the siphoning of more than ₹2,000 crore through transactions layered across multiple entities.
The turnovers of the last ones in that chain were found to be less than ₹2 crore, which was to avoid maintenance of books of accounts, tax audits etc., according to an official release.
The I-T department stated that more than 40 premises were covered and three prominent infrastructure groups based in Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) and Telangana were among the entities which were searched.
Investigation led to the busting of a major racket of cash generation through bogus sub-contractors, over-invoicing and bogus billing.
Documents seized
Several incriminating documents and papers were found and seized during the searches.
The I-T Department also stumbled on emails, WhatsApp messages and unexplained foreign transactions.
Close associates, including the ex-personal secretary of a prominent person, were among those whose premises were searched.
The ITD release further stated that the infrastructure companies subcontracted works to several nonexistent/bogus entities. Such entities were either not found at their registered addresses or were found to be shell entities.
Several such sub-contractors were controlled by the principal contractors with their I-T return filings and other compliances done from the IP addresses of their main corporate offices.
Foreign direct investment receipts amounting to several crores of rupees related to a company were suspected to be a part of round-tripping of its unaccounted funds. Unexplained cash of ₹85 lakh and jewellery worth ₹71 lakh have been seized.
