Income Tax department raids Punjab-based business groups

The Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday that the Income Tax department carried out search and seizure operations against two Punjab-based business groups, adding that the action resulted in the detection of unaccounted income amounting to ₹150 crore and ₹40 crore respectively. While the first group is engaged in cycle business, the second is into immigration and visa services for students, the ministry said in a statement.

The search action on the entity engaged in cycle business was initiated on October 21, the Finance ministry noted, adding that in this operation, the IT department also seized unaccounted cash worth ₹2.25 crore and unaccounted gold worth ₹2 crore. “The group was found to be involved in the suppression of income by showing huge bogus intra-group transactions within group concerns. It was also found to have received a substantial part of sale consideration in cash, thus suppressing the turnover. The seized documents reveal the suppression of turnover of around ₹90 crore per annum. Incriminating documents related to the undisclosed sale of scrap have been seized as well,” the statement further read.

Undisclosed investments by the group members in immovable properties were also found, it added.

On the second group, the ministry said that it was based in Jalandhar, and raids there were initiated on October 18. The group, it said, used to charge between ₹10 lakh- ₹15 lakh depending on the country the student wished to pursue education in. “Almost the entire receipts, aggregating at more than ₹2 crore in the last five years, are in cash. The profit earned from such receipts was never disclosed in the IT returns filed. Only the commission received from foreign universities has been shown as receipts in ITRs by the members of the group,” the statement said.

The release also noted that in the second case, unaccounted cash and jewellery amounting to ₹20 lakh and ₹33 lakh, respectively, were seized as well.

Further investigations in both cases are currently underway.