The Income Tax Department carried out a search and seizure operation on 17.09.2021 on a prominent group engaged in manufacturing of steel products. 25 premises consisting of 8 residences, 9 offices and 8 factories, spread over Kolkata, Durgapur, Asansol and Purulia and other regions of West Bengal were covered in the operation.

The search operation has led to the detection of huge quantity of incriminating documents and digital evidence from different premises. Evidences pertain to generation of unaccounted income by the group by way of unaccounted  cash sales, unaccounted cash expenditure, purchase from bogus parties, under-reporting of actual production, cash purchases of scrap, several documents of land purchases and sale etc. Evidence has also been found pertaining to the utilisation of the unaccounted income in the form of unsecured loans and sale of shares of shell entities though layering of the unaccounted income. A large number of property documents pertaining to one of the members of the group, showing land and property holding in different names, have also been seized. The total amount of such incriminating evidences pertaining to the manufacturing group exceeds ₹ 700 crore. The operation has led to seizure of unaccounted cash amounting to ₹ 20 lakh while 2 lockers remain to be operated.

During the search operation, an accommodation entry provider, who was providing entries to the searched group, was also covered. From his secret back office, huge number of incriminating documents pertaining to providing accommodation entries through modes like sale of shares of shell companies, unsecured loans from shell entities, bogus billing, etc. have been found, the total amount of which runs into several hundreds of crores of rupees. Evidence of more than 200 companies/entities having more than 200 bank accounts being managed from the entry operator’s premises have been found. On the basis of preliminary examination of these documents, it appears that these bank accounts and entities have been used as conduit to route the unaccounted income of many beneficiaries.

 Further investigations are in progress.

Unaccounted income detection prompts search uncovering accommodation-entry schemes and shell-company conduits for tax evasion, prompting further investigation. Coordinated search and seizure operations uncovered documentary and digital evidence of unaccounted income generated through unreported cash sales, bogus purchases, under reporting of production, cash scrap purchases, and land transaction manipulations; evidence also shows use of unsecured loans and sale of shares of shell entities to layer and deploy unaccounted funds, and the involvement of an accommodation entry provider operating numerous companies and bank accounts as conduits for routing unaccounted income.