THE Income Tax Department has seized a whopping Rs 56 crore in cash apart from jewellery valued at Rs 14 crore after it raided two major Maharashtra business groups engaged in manufacturing of steel TMT bars, the CBDT said on Thursday. The stash of cash and jewellery was kept in more than 30 accounts of a cooperative bank and inside an undisclosed chamber of a farmhouse.

The searches were launched on August 3 and more than 30 premises of the two entities in Jalna, Aurangabad, Nashik and Mumbai were covered. In a statement, the CBDT said initial analysis of seized documents show that the groups “engaged in large-scale tax evasion, resorting to inflation of expenditure through bogus purchases from several entities”. The statement did not identify the two groups that were searched. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) frames policy for the I-T Department. It said, the two entities were also found to be “involved in GST frauds”. “Evidence has also been found of excess stock of raw materials, not recorded in the books of account, exceeding Rs 120 crore. “Examination of evidence in one of the groups further reveals that it has indulged in layering its unaccounted income through bogus unsecured loans and share premium, obtained from Kolkata-based shell companies,” the CBDT alleged.