Suppression of sales by two industrial groups to the tune of ₹1,000 crore over several years was unearthed by the Income Tax department during search carried out at various places in Tamil Nadu. It was also found, that the assessee had made unaccounted cash purchases of about ₹150 crore in textile division and jewellery division, says a government press release.
The Income Tax Department carried out search and seizure operations on December 1, in the two groups engaged in the retail sales of jewellery, textiles and home appliances through their popular chain of stores in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Tirunelveli. A total of 37 premises were covered in this action.
In the case of the first group, seized documents and other incriminating materials gathered during the course of the search have revealed, that, the assessee had been actively involved in systematically suppressing sales by manipulating their books of accounts.
In the second group, incriminating material seized during the course of search, has revealed that the assessee group had obtained bogus bills from a set of parties to the tune of ₹80 crore and thereby suppressed taxable income. Evidences relating to the unaccounted purchases of gold have also been gathered. Besides, the assessee group is found to be debiting inflated making charges of jewellery. In addition, unaccounted rental receipts and the unaccounted scrap sales aggregating to ₹7 crore have also been detected.
The searches on the two groups have led to a seizure of cash of ₹10 crore and jewellery/bullion worth about ₹6 crore.
Further investigations are under progress, says a government release.