I-T dept seizes Rs 14.48 cr cash from hoarders

 I-T dept seizes Rs 14.48 cr cash from hoarders

The Income Tax Department has seized Rs 14.48 crore in cash during raids at multiple locations, including in poll-bound Karnataka, in the wake of recent cash crunch in the country, officials said today.

They said the department raided a number of entities that were found to be hoarding cash in various states.

“The total cash seized in these searches is Rs 14.48 crore and the seized currency is largely in the higher denominations of Rs 2,000 and Rs 500,” a senior official said.

Also Read : The Income Tax filing season for salaried class taxpayers: Here you need to know

The officials cited some instances in this context and said searches were carried out against “prominent” PWD contractors in poll-bound Karnataka, who were awarded contracts during January-March this year.

The searches carried out last week led to unearthing and seizure of Rs 6.76 crore in cash, mainly from the benami lockers detected during the operations, they said. Over a dozen contractors in Mysore and Bengaluru were covered as part of the action, they said.

The cash was found to be in the denominations of Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 and some of the searched assessees were found to be not maintaining the books of accounts, they said.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), that frames policy for the ITD, had recently asked the investigation wings of the department to check the cash crunch crisis after many ATMs across the country went dry.