The Income-Tax Department on Monday (April 8) said it had detected a “widespread and well-organised” racket of collection of unaccounted cash of about ₹281 crore during raids against close aides of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath and others.
It said the sleuths have recovered ₹14.6 crore of “unaccounted” cash and seized diaries and computer files of suspect payments made between Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said the department had also detected a trail of ₹20 crore suspect cash allegedly being moved to the “headquarters of a major political party in Delhi” from the house of an important person who lives on Tughlaq Road, home to many VIPs. “₹14.6 crore of unaccounted cash has been found so far, besides 252 bottles of liquor, few arms and tiger hide-skins,” the CBDT said in a statement issued late night. The CBDT frames policy for the I-T Department.
“Searches in Madhya Pradesh have detected widespread and well-organised racket of collection of unaccounted cash of about ₹281 crore through various persons in different walks of life, including business, politics and public service.
A part of the cash was also transferred to the headquarter of a major political party in Delhi, including about ₹20 crore, which was moved through hawala recently to the headquarter of the political party from the residence of a senior functionary at Tughlak Road, New Delhi,” the CBDT said. It, however, neither identified the political party nor the senior functionary.
The statement added that records of collection and disbursement of cash “in the form of handwritten diaries, computer files and excel sheets were found and seized and it corroborates the above findings”.
It added that the searches in Delhi in the group of a close relative of the senior functionary have further led to the seizure of “incriminating evidence, including cash book recording unaccounted transactions of ₹230 crore, siphoning off money through bogus billing of more than ₹242 crore and evidence of more than 80 companies in tax havens.”