WEB DESK
Income Tax Department has conducted a search and seizure operation on a Pune and Thane based unicorn start-up group, primarily engaged in the business of wholesale and retail of construction material.
The group has Pan-India presence having annual turnover exceeding six thousnad crore rupees. A total of 23 premises were covered in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, in the search operation. Ministry of Finance in a statement said that a large number of incriminating evidences in the form of hard copy documents and digital data have been found and seized during the search operations. These evidences revealed that the group has booked bogus purchases, made huge unaccounted cash expenditure and obtained accommodation entries, aggregating to the tune of over 400 crore rupees. The search action also revealed that the group had obtained huge foreign funding via the Mauritius route, by issuing shares at exorbitantly high premium.
During the search operation, a complex hawala network of some Mumbai and Thane based shell companies, was also unearthed. These shell companies exist on paper, and were created only for the purpose of providing accommodation entries. So far, unaccounted cash of one crore rupees and jewellery of the value of 22 lakh rupees have been seized.