Income-Tax officials have seized documents believed to be US Treasury bonds worth Rs 28,000 crore during a raid on the premises of a businessman in neighbouring Tirupur district. The raids were carried out on the residence of Ramalingam at Upputhurai Palayam village on 31 December night, official sources said today.

Income Tax Department conducts search and seizure actions based on credible information relating to ‘persons’, which include individuals, Hindu undivided families (HUFs), firms, companies, association of persons (AoPs), body of individuals (BoIs), local authorities and any artificial juridical person, who satisfy any of the conditions specified in Section 132 (1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

Gujarat’s Income Tax department has detected allegedly undisclosed income of Rs 111 crore during a I-T survey on a transport and logistics firm. On the basis of evidences gathered and inquiries conducted, the taxpayer group has surrendered Rs 111 crore as undisclosed income, an I-T official said, adding the survey was conducted at three premises of the firm, involving around 25 I-T officials.

Teams of Income Tax department officials conducted searches in six places, including a farm house owned by a ruling BJP MLA and two private finance firms, here today. The raids were conducted in a farm house belonging to ruling BJP MLA C T Ravi but occupied by his relatives, official sources said. According to the sources, some documents were seized during the raids. Reacting to the raids, Ravi said “though the house belongs to me, my relatives stay there”. I-T officials remained tightlipped about the raids.

The Income Tax Department conducts search, seizure and survey operations based on credible information relating to ‘persons’ which includes individuals, Hindu undivided families (HUFs), firms, companies, association of persons (AoPs), body of individuals (BoIs), local authorities and any artificial juridical person who are in possession of any money, bullion, jewellery, documents or any other valuable article or thing which represents undisclosed income of such persons.

Income tax officialson 05.05.2012 conducted a raid at the Madurai Adheenam (mutt) which has been in the limelight following the appointment of the controversial self-styled godman Nityananda as head of the 1500-year-old Saivaite Mutt. Officials said they were conducting the raid on orders from their Delhi counterparts and they had seized some documents and cash but declined to give details.

Recently there have been large number of news in daily newspapers on the above subject. Brief facts are that a gang of 6 persons led by so called Sh. V.D.Goyal, Investigation Officer of Income Tax Department raided the house of Dr. Mohan Pandey, Saharanpur(U.P.) on 18/04/2012. They claimed that they belong to the Office of the CIT, Lucknow and produced a fake letter issued by the Commissioner of Income Tax, Zone-2, Lucknow before the S.S.P., Saharanpur and got police force on the basis of fake letter as well as fake Identity Card.

Our Income Tax law allows all persons to self-assess their income and pay taxes. However, to protect the revenue base, unearth concealed income and to act as a deterrent, tax authorities have been vested with powers to conduct surveys and searches (commonly referred to as ‘raids’). These raids are made the basis of information available by the department’s investigation wing and after obtaining requisite internal approvals.

It is informed that under the Income Tax Act, search and seizure is conducted on the basis of specific and credible information regarding tax evasion, and after conducting necessary verification. Information technology tools, such as CASS and ITDMS, have been developed and are being extensively utilized by the Income Tax department to unobtrusively select cases for scrutiny or verify information before taking intrusive action. In the current year, the number of search warrants executed has declined compared to last year.

Income Tax sleuths on Wednesday seized about Rs 70 crore in cash from a contractor from his house at Jharia in Dhanbad district, a senior IT official said. As per Additional Director, IT, Ajit Srivastav An IT team seized the cash from coal contractor Lal Babu Singh’s residence. Singh is a contractor with the Bharat Coking Coal Limited.