I-T Dept detects over Rs 400 crore tax evasion after raids on liquor, hospitality group in TN

"Undisclosed cash of Rs 3 crore and unaccounted gold jewellery worth Rs 2.5 crore have been seized so far," the CBDT said in a statement. The CBDT frames policy for the tax department.

Chennai: The Income Tax Department has detected a "large-scale tax evasion" of more than Rs. 400 crore following a recent raid on a Tamil Nadu-based group engaged in liquor manufacturing and hospitality. The announcement was made by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in a statement on Monday.

The CBDT said that the raids were conducted on June 15 and over 40 premises in cities such as Chennai, Viluppuram, Coimbatore, and Hyderabad were covered. "Undisclosed cash of Rs 3 crore and unaccounted gold jewelry worth Rs 2.5 crore have been seized so far," the CBDT said in a statement. The CBDT frames policy for the tax department. It, however, did not identify the business group that is engaged in logistics, entertainment, hospitality, and liquor manufacturing.

According to the statement of an analysis of the seized documents and digital gadgets "indicates that the assessee group has indulged in large-scale tax evasion exceeding Rs 400 crore by debiting non-genuine purchase bills in the books of account of varied businesses."

"These non-genuine purchase bills were either obtained from its regular material suppliers or accommodation entry providers (fake business entry providers)," the statement added. The seized documents show that payments made to the material suppliers through cheques have been received back in "cash" for making "unaccounted" investments and also for other purposes.

"The group is also found to be controlling back-office operations of its international chain of hotels from India," CBDT said. (With agency inputs)