I-T Says Only Rs 1.76 Cr Unaccounted Cash Found, Dismissing Claims of Rs 300 Crore
HYDERABAD: The Income Tax (I-T) department’s follow-up action on unaccounted money seized in Telangana has exposed chinks in the tall claims of state authorities concerned about confiscating hundreds of crores of rupees and kilos of gold and silver in the run-up to the Assembly polls.
Special teams constituted by the state police launched a drive against unaccounted money since the model code of conduct (MCC) came into force on October 9 and claimed to have seized cash and jewellery worth Rs 300 crore. But the I-T department’s follow-up action so far revealed that the actual unaccounted money was just three per cent, at Rs 1.76 crore.
“The I-T department will verify all the cases of seizure of cash or jewellery worth more than Rs 10 lakh. So far, we received seizure reports from the state police for rs 53.93 crore, 145 kilos of gold and 454 kilos of silver, and found that only Rs 1.76 is unaccounted for,” said Sanjay Bahadur, Director General (Investigation), I-T department.
Speaking to mediapersons here on Wednesday, he said that while Rs 1.76 crore of unaccounted cash was seized, rest of the cash and the entire jewellery were returned to their rightful owners. The I-T, on its own, conducted raids and seized Rs 14 crore and is in the process of verifying the legality of cash found in the raids.
“The IT never harasses people and the department is only working to prevent bad things in the society within the framework of law and rules,” said Bahadur.
Bahadur said they are keeping a close vigil by deploying air-intelligence units in coordination with the CISF to track the movement of cash or valuables, as has been done at the RGI Airport and Begumpet Airport. They will coordinate with the Bureau of Civil Aviation (BCA) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) regarding the schedule of inbound chartered or private aircraft and helicopters, for consequent action.
AIU teams, consisting of one I-T officer and two inspectors, have been deployed at the two airports in the city.
Bahadur said that Section 132 of the I-T Act empowers the department to search and seize money, bullion, jewellery or other valuable articles or things found as a result of such search. Further, Section 132A empowers the department to requisition any asset, which represents either wholly or partly, income or property not disclosed to the I-T department.
The DG of I-T (Investigation) appealed to the public to bring to their notice any illegal cash transactions by calling toll-free number 1800-425-1785.
