10 Crores, luxury cars, LED TVs: rich haul from Tax raids on UP officials

Mangalore Today News Network

Noida, Apr 20 2017 :  Raids on a senior Uttar Pradesh bureaucrat have revealed an enormous haul of unaccounted cash and jewellery. Income Tax officials have allegedly found around 10 crores in cash and 10 kg gold during raids on Keshav Lal, a Kanpur-based additional commissioner of Sales Tax, who has a house in Noida near Delhi.

In raids across the state, taxmen also searched four properties owned by a former top official in the Noida Authority.

The searches, which are a part of a major crackdown on tax evaders in the government, have produced around Rs. 20 crore till now, say officials.

Four bureaucrats based in Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring Uttarakhand have been raided in the last three days.

A general manager of the Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam in Dehradun has also been raided for allegedly "misusing his official position" and hoarding untaxed money, Press Trust of India quoted sources as revealing. The official allegedly has a fleet of cars including a Range Rover, an Audi and a BMW besides 15 large LED TVs in a farm house allegedly constructed on a land meant for a factory. The farmhouse has a well-equipped gym, a guest house and a swimming pool.

"Documents showing undisclosed investments in farm houses and immovable properties in other cities have been seized," a senior official says, adding, "The department is probing tax evasion to the tune of a few crores against the official and his associates based in Rishikesh."

In another search on a local body chairman in UP, tax officials have detected around 10 crores in black or untaxed money.

"The Chairman owns two petrol pumps and a gas agency and has been found to be allegedly diverting development grants for personal benefits," an official said.

A senior official in Noida and a UP road transport department officer in Kanpur were also raided.

"The Noida officer was found to have made unaccounted cash payments for purchase of immovable properties worth more than Rs. 2 crore in the name of his spouse," the official said.

Over Rs. 540 crore black money has been detected by the Income Tax department in the last 15 days as part of its nation-wide drive to check tax evasion.

Courtesy: ndtv