IT raid on Odisha distillery: 156 cash bags found; Rs 20 crore counted so far

Bhubaneswar, Dec 8 (PTI) The Income Tax department on Friday found 156 bags of cash during search for the third consecutive day in places linked to an Odisha-based distillery group on charges of tax evasion, officials said.

From the bags, Rs 20 crore were counted till now, taking the total amount so far recovered to Rs 220 crore.

The department officials recovered as many as 156 bags containing cash during the raid at Sudapada in Bolangir district on Friday.

"Of the 156 bags, only 6/7 were counted and the amount found was Rs 20 crore," an official said.

The raids were carried out at Sambalpur, Bolangir, Titilagarh, Boudh, Sundargarh, Rourkela and Bhubaneswar.

The company is yet to provide any reaction to the raids.

Around Rs 200 crore in cash was seized on Thursday during raids at the Bolangir office of Baldeo Sahu & Group of Companies, one of the biggest country-liquor manufacturers and selling companies in western Odisha.

The raids were conducted at some houses, offices, and distillery at Sargipali in Sundargarh city on Wednesday.

The IT team also searched the corporate office of Boudh Distillery Pvt Ltd at Palasapalli in Bhubaneswar, the houses of some company officials, the company's factory and office in Boudh and the Ranisati Rice Mill.

Former IT commissioner Sarat Chandra Dash said that this could be the largest cash seizure by the income tax department in Odisha so far.

"I have never come across recovery such a huge amount of cash in the state," Dash said. PTI