In the largest ever cash seizure, the Income Tax department today said it has recovered Rs 44.2 crore of unaccounted money from three Delhi-based commodity traders. “In search and seizure actions conducted by the Income Tax department on January 18 and 19, unaccounted cash amounting to Rs 44.2 crore was seized,” a Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) spokesperson said here.
This is the largest ever cash haul by the Income Tax department, he said, adding the traders admitted to be having an undisclosed income of Rs 155 crore. “These persons were found to be raising money from the public by promising them extraordinarily high returns,” he said. Their statements are being recorded and department is collecting more details, he said.
While the spokesperson did not disclose their names, he said some of them were also operating for corporates.
They were doing all kinds of trading, including trading in futures markets, he added.
The operations of traders were spread across Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, he added.
When asked if more such traders were being raided, he said, “The drive against tax evasion is an ongoing process”.
A few days ago, in a similar search operation, the IT department in Asansol, West Bengal had seized unaccounted cash and bank deposits worth RS 12.57 crore.
“The persons involved have admitted of undisclosed income amounting to Rs 150 crore,” the spokesperson claimed.
The IT department has unearthed unaccounted income of over Rs 15,000 crore in the last two years.
