The Income-Tax Department has detected suppressed sales to the tune of ₹400 crore over the last three years by a group engaged in the manufacturing of plywood and other products in Haryana.
The agency covered more than 30 premises in Yamuna Nagar, Ambala, Karnal and Mohali (Punjab) during the searches on the group which also manufactures inverters and vehicle batteries.
The Department gathered documents and digital evidence revealing that the group entities involved in the plywood business maintained a parallel set of books of account for entries of cash purchase transactions, sales, payment of wages and other expenses, in addition to the details on investments in immovable properties.
The evidence indicated that the group was involved in generating cash by suppressing the sales to the extent of about 40% of the actual figure.
In the case of an entity manufacturing batteries, the search team found that payment of wages and purchase of raw materials in cash aggregating to ₹110 crore had not been recorded in the books of account. With respect to the entity, along with another unit that is into lead-refining business, the agency found suspicious purchases exceeding ₹40 crore from non-existent companies.
Based on the findings, the Department alleged that the unaccounted cash so generated by the group entities was systematically used for the acquisition of immovable properties of the key persons of the plywood and lead-refining businesses.
The search action resulted in the seizure of over ₹6.60 crore in unaccounted cash and jewellery valued ₹2.10 crore. “In total, 22 bank lockers have been kept under restraint and are yet to be operated,” said the agency.
