I-T raids in Karnataka, Goa reveal jewellery store chains have Rs 125 crore hidden income

BENGALURU: In a major swoop, the Investigation wing of Income Tax – Directorate of Income Tax (Investigation) (DGIT), Karnataka & Goa, with assistance from DGITs, Maharashtra, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, has reportedly unearthed a huge amount of suppressed income from raids conducted across the states on the chains of two well known jewellery showrooms — ‘Sulthan’ and ‘City Gold’ last week.

Sources on condition of anonymity told The New Indian Express that the two jewellery groups have reportedly ‘admitted’ to owning unaccounted income of around Rs 125 crore to the tax sleuths. “The I-T sleuths discovered during the search and seizure operations that the two jewellery groups were allegedly purchasing unaccounted recycled gold worth hundreds of crores from Mumbai after they seized books of parallel purchases from clandestine drawers from the purchasing point.

While the two groups have admitted to the unaccounted income of around Rs 125 crore, their sales in cash outside the books could be in hundreds of crores. The matter is under investigation,” said an officer on condition of anonymity.

The DGIT, Karnataka & Goa, had conducted simultaneous search and seizure operations in showrooms of ‘Sulthan’ and ‘City Gold’ in Bengaluru, Udupi, Mangaluru and Shivamogga last week. Simultaneous raids were conducted in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Mumbai by the Income Tax investigation wings in these states. “It was a team effort which yielded huge success,” the officer added.

Courtesy: The New Indian Express

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