₹25CR CASH, 12KG GOLD
I-T digs up TN graveyard to bring out ₹433cr unaccounted income
B.Sivakumar@timesgroup.com
Chennai:08.02.2019
Income tax officials who searched Saravana Stores ‘brahmandamai’ and realty firms Lotus Group and GSquare in Chennai and Coimbatore for more than a week had to dig up some graveyards to unearth cash, documents, gold and diamonds worth crores of rupees.
In all, ₹433 crore unaccounted income has been unearthed at the three business establishments. About ₹25 crore in cash, 12 kg gold and 626 carats of diamonds were also seized.
The simultaneous searches at 72 places belonging to Saravana Stores owner Yogarathinam Pondurai, his associate Ramajayam alias Bala, owner of Lotus Group and GSquare, and their associates would have come a cropper if not for the leads officials got about a vehicle carrying valuables and documents doing the rounds in Chennai. “Some police officials had tipped off owners of business establishments, including Pondurai and Bala, about possible I-T searches as heavy police protection had been sought and many cars were hired by the I-T department to transport officials,” said a senior I-T official.
‘Staff deleted records from computers’
The official said, “Pondurai and Bala put most documents, huge amount of cash, gold and diamonds in an SUV and instructed the driver to just keep driving across the city. Their staff deleted all records from the computers and CCTV footages. Following questioning, we came to know about the SUV carrying cash and valuables. We intercepted it with the help of police. Not much could be seized from the vehicle, but we got information about several bags of valuables buried in burial grounds and dumped in some buildings.”
In all, ₹433 crore unaccounted income has been traced in the three business establishments. The sleuths also seized ₹25 crore in cash, 12 kg gold and 626 carats diamonds.
The protracted operation ended only after 9 days. “We have got evidence of huge business transactions between Pondurai and Bala. About ₹284 crore unaccounted income was traced in Pondurai’s business establishments and about ₹149 crore was detected in the two firms owned by Bala,” he said.
The I-T department has engaged a team of IT professionals to reconstruct all the data deleted from the seized computers.
Pondurai, Bala, their partners and business associates were dealing in huge amount of cash, the official said. “A property worth ₹180 crore was bought by them, entirely using cash, in Chennai,” said the official.
It took sustained questioning to extract information from owners and employees of all the three companies, officials said.
I-T digs up TN graveyard to bring out ₹433cr unaccounted income
B.Sivakumar@timesgroup.com
Chennai:08.02.2019
Income tax officials who searched Saravana Stores ‘brahmandamai’ and realty firms Lotus Group and GSquare in Chennai and Coimbatore for more than a week had to dig up some graveyards to unearth cash, documents, gold and diamonds worth crores of rupees.
In all, ₹433 crore unaccounted income has been unearthed at the three business establishments. About ₹25 crore in cash, 12 kg gold and 626 carats of diamonds were also seized.
The simultaneous searches at 72 places belonging to Saravana Stores owner Yogarathinam Pondurai, his associate Ramajayam alias Bala, owner of Lotus Group and GSquare, and their associates would have come a cropper if not for the leads officials got about a vehicle carrying valuables and documents doing the rounds in Chennai. “Some police officials had tipped off owners of business establishments, including Pondurai and Bala, about possible I-T searches as heavy police protection had been sought and many cars were hired by the I-T department to transport officials,” said a senior I-T official.
‘Staff deleted records from computers’
The official said, “Pondurai and Bala put most documents, huge amount of cash, gold and diamonds in an SUV and instructed the driver to just keep driving across the city. Their staff deleted all records from the computers and CCTV footages. Following questioning, we came to know about the SUV carrying cash and valuables. We intercepted it with the help of police. Not much could be seized from the vehicle, but we got information about several bags of valuables buried in burial grounds and dumped in some buildings.”
In all, ₹433 crore unaccounted income has been traced in the three business establishments. The sleuths also seized ₹25 crore in cash, 12 kg gold and 626 carats diamonds.
The protracted operation ended only after 9 days. “We have got evidence of huge business transactions between Pondurai and Bala. About ₹284 crore unaccounted income was traced in Pondurai’s business establishments and about ₹149 crore was detected in the two firms owned by Bala,” he said.
The I-T department has engaged a team of IT professionals to reconstruct all the data deleted from the seized computers.
Pondurai, Bala, their partners and business associates were dealing in huge amount of cash, the official said. “A property worth ₹180 crore was bought by them, entirely using cash, in Chennai,” said the official.
It took sustained questioning to extract information from owners and employees of all the three companies, officials said.
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