I-T discovers undisclosed cash, income with Makkal Needhi Maiam treasurer

13:31 March 19

Chennai:Income Tax (I-T) department has discovered unaccounted cash worth Rs 11.50 Cr and documents revealing Rs 80 crores of unaccounted income from the residence of Chandrashekhar, Treasurer of Makkal Needhi Maiam. The I-T has been searching Chandrashekhar's premises since Wednesday, as part of the surveillance operations ahead of elections in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

The tax regulator has been carrying out searches at five locations in Chennai since March 16. According to I-T, the premises at which searches are held belong to five entities, who apart from their regular business are also 'cash handlers'. Following the searches, a cash of Rs 5.32 crore was seized.

In a separate development, the I-T Department also carried out search and seizure operations on March 17 against a business group involved in yarn trading and supply of PPE equipment, bags and baby care products to various state governments. The searches were carried out in Tirupur, Dharapuram and Chennai.

It has been revealed that the group engaged in practices of suppressing profit by inflating purchases and other expenses. Also, the income generated in such a manner was being used for making investments in land and business expansion.