Income Tax Department unearths Rs 200 crore black money after raids on dry fruit traders

The Income Tax Department has detected unaccounted income of over Rs 200 crore after it recently raided people engaged in dry fruits trade located in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said on Friday.

The searches, it said in a statement, were carried out on October 28.

The group has been "inflating" purchases of dry fruits exorbitantly over the years.

"Seized evidence also supports the fact that unaccounted cash has been received back by the directors of the group against payment made for such purchases.

"... one of the assessees was maintaining a parallel set of books of accounts and there was a huge difference between the sales and purchases recorded in both the sets of books of accounts," the statement said.

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One of the groups, the policy-making body for the tax department alleged in the statement, also indulged in unaccounted purchases and sales of dry fruits.

"Excess stock to the tune of Rs 40 crore has been found. The analysis of seized material and evidence collected reveals that one of the groups is also running a benami proprietary concern," it claimed.

In both the groups, the claim of deduction under section 80IB (deduction in respect of profits and gains from certain industrial undertakings) of the Income Tax Act has been found to be "not genuine" and is estimated to be around Rs 30 crore, it claimed.

"The search action has resulted in the seizure of unaccounted cash of Rs 63 lakh and jewellery of Rs 2 crore and detection of unaccounted income exceeding Rs 200 crore," it said.

Fourteen bank lockers were put "under restraint", it added.

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