Illegal money transaction to tune of several hundred crores unearthed

 

 

 

 

The Income Tax Department claimed to have unearthed a transaction of illegal money to a mind-boggling tune of several hundred crores here on Friday, the day two of state-wide search operations mounted on over two dozen premises fanned across six districts. The searches are underway on a group of individuals, hawala dealers and businessmen in Raipur, Bhilai, Durg, Mahasamund, Raigarh, Bilaspur and Korba districts respectively.

Most strikingly, a team of taxmen on day two of search operations also managed to lay their hands on Surya Kant Tiwari and his money courier Nikhil Chandrakar soon after they landed by an evening flight at Swami Vivekananda Airport (SVA) at around 6 pm. The duo were served summons for questioning under Section 131 of Income Tax Act, 1961 and were taken to Aayakar Bhawan, the composite building housing multiple wings of Central Financial Task Force Agencies at Civil Lines here.

The two were handed over by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel to a team of taxmen reinforced with the presence of armed troopers from Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) right outside the arrival gate of SVA.

The two have been subjected to volleys of questionnaires for the purpose of recording their statement by taxmen under Section 131 (1) A of Income Tax Act. However, unconfirmed reports stated that Surya Kant Tiwari and his money courier Nikhil Chandrakar were intercepted by a separate team of taxmen from Bengaluru Airport. But there was no official confirmation to this effect.

“Our taxmen have recovered heaps of incriminating documents pertaining with purchase of immovable properties worth several hundred crores and all these purchases came handy by a continuous flow of illegal money generated from unaccounted cash through mining, coal washeries and allied transport business,” one of the knowledgeable sources connected with the ongoing operations confided to ‘The Hitavada’, requesting anonymity. According to the sources, the second day of tax swoop also led to the seizure of cash amounting to nearly Rs 12 crore, in addition to gold jewellery worth another Rs 7 crores. Moreover, the tax investigators also traced over a dozen bank lockers being operated by certain individuals of this group and would be opened at later course of the investigation even as ‘Prohibitory Orders’ (PO) have been placed on them, But once the PO is lifted, these bank lockers may open a pandora’s box of illegal money transaction, they added.

“The search action was mounted on the basis of credible inputs, intelligence and evidence of generation of huge unaccounted cash from illegal mining and its transportation business and transfer of the same to some high-profile public servants of Chhattisgarh Government, accommodation entries from shell firms to rout the illegal money and undisclosed investment in immovable properties including multiple coal washeries in State,” a senior Income Tax official revealed to ‘The Hitavada’. According to this official, the search operation, now in full swing after it commenced from early Thursday morning, have enveloped Saumya Chaurasia, Deputy Secretary to the Chief Minister, businessman Surya Kant Tiwari, his money courier Nikhil Chandrakar, transporter Joginder Singh, lawyer Lamikant Tiwari, private contractor Ajay Naidu, apart from their business associates and allied partners. “Multiple premises including residences, office, coal washeries and few other places have been brought under the ambit of the concurrent search operations,” the official added. Sources, in the meantime, also affirmed that the entire operation was being overseen by top brass of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Government of India (GoI) wherein Director General (Investigation) Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh Ajay Shrivastava and Principal Director (Investigation) Ashok Tripathi were overseeing and coordinating with the men on the ground. “In all, around 145 tax investigators roped in from Kolkata, Bengaluru, Nagpur, Delhi, Bhopal and Raipur, are taking part in the search operations, which will last for another couple of days. These taxmen have been provided with armed security entailment of CRPF troopers, numbering around 150 and purposely roped in from New Delhi and their presence is meant to deter any kind of resistance, which so far have not been reported at any place of the operations,” the sources maintained. Out of nearly Rs 12 crore unaccounted seized from multiple locations, alone a sum of Rs 6.50 crore was found from a location in Mahasamund district. Apropos, gold jewelleries weighing over 12 kilograms were also seized from various premises, which were being evaluated by designated valuer of the Income Tax Department. Meanwhile, sources also attributed that incriminating documents, mostly registry papers of immovable properties as well as electronic data seized during the search show that a substantial amount of illegal gratification was being paid to public servants and others every month. “The total unaccounted transactions including cash and immovable properties may substantially increase further after seized evidence and leads found during the searches are further scrutinised and investigated,” the sources underlined. On the other hand, multiple agencies and personnel of State Administration were also keeping their eyes on every movement of the tax investigators.