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In its largest-ever cash haul, the Income-Tax Department has seized unaccounted cash amounting to Rs 44.20 crore from three Delhi-based commodities traders. The three persons, who are income-tax assessees, altogether admitted undisclosed income of Rs 155 crore.
The search and seizure action was conducted over the last two days and the areas of operation of the three persons were Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, UP, Bihar, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, the CBDT spokesman, Mr Shishir Jha, told reporters here. The identity of the three people was, however, not revealed.
The three raised money from the public on the assurance that it would be parked in metals and other commodities traded in commodity exchanges thereby generating high returns. No listed entity is directly involved in this matter, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) official said.
A few days ago, a similar search and seizure action was carried out in Asansol in West Bengal and cash and bank deposits amounting to Rs 12.57 crore were seized, Mr Jha added. The persons involved in the Asansol action admitted to undisclosed income of Rs 150 crore.
The amounts seized would be utilised towards the tax liability that is raised as a consequence of the search actions, he said.
Apex court concern
The I-T Department's move to disclose some of its successful search and seizure operations came a day after the Supreme Court expressed displeasure over the Government's approach on black money.
The apex court had also come down heavily on the Government for its unwillingness to furnish complete information about money deposited by Indians in foreign banks The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, had on Wednesday told reporters after the swearing-in ceremony of the new Ministers, that there was no instant-solution to bringing back the so-called black money.
The information that the Government had got (using certain DTAA, or Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement, provision) was with a commitment that it would be used for tax calculation purposes and not legally, he said, adding that the information on list of account-holders cannot be shared as India was bound by international commitments and treaties. Meanwhile, Mr Jha said on Thursday that the I-T Department will continue to take firm action against all tax evaders, adding that in the last two years alone the Department had detected unaccounted income of Rs 15,000 crore. The total value of assets seized by the department in the last two years stood at Rs 1,670 crore.
“These detections have been made in search and seizure operations alone. There have been several cases where the Department has detected unaccounted income of Rs 100 crore or more,” he said.
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