The Income Tax Department carried out search and seizure operations in Tamil Nadu in the case of a group engaged in the manufacturing of animal feeds, poultry farming, edible oils and export of egg products. The search action in the group was initiated on 27.10.2021 covering 40 premises located in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.

During the course of the search operation, several incriminating documents and materials in the form of electronic data have been found and seized. These seized documents indicate that the group is involved in suppressing its income by different ways such as inflating expenses including booking bogus purchases, by under invoicing of sales and also by non-reflecting scrap/by-products sales in the regular books of accounts. The analysis of seized documents also shows that unaccounted income so generated has been invested in acquisition and construction of various immovable properties and also incurred in meeting unaccounted expenses.

The search action has resulted in seizure of unaccounted cash of Rs. 3.3 crore and detection of unaccounted income exceeding ₹ 300 crore.

Further investigations are in progress.

Search and seizure uncovers systematic income suppression, with seized electronic evidence and ongoing investigations. A targeted search and seizure operation against a business group in Tamil Nadu uncovered electronic evidence showing systematic income suppression through inflated expenses, alleged bogus purchases, under invoicing of sales and omission of scrap/by product sales. Analysis indicates unaccounted income was invested in immovable properties and used for unrecorded expenditures; substantial unaccounted cash was seized and significant unreported income was detected. Investigations are ongoing to verify and quantify the tax and regulatory implications.