The Income Tax Department has carried out search and seizure operations on a Karnataka group engaged in the civil construction of roads and irrigation projects.

The search initiated on October 28, 2021, was conducted at various premises located in North Karnataka.

As per a press release issued by the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday, the search operation revealed that the group has been suppressing its profits by booking bogus expenses in the purchase of materials, labour expenses and payment to subcontractors.

“Various incriminating documents including digital evidence indicating non-genuine claim of such expenses have been found and seized. Analysis of the same shows that unaccounted cash has been received by the key group person from such vendors/ suppliers of materials,” read the release.

“It was also found that their own relatives/friends/employees were used as conduits in the name of subcontractors who neither executed any work nor did they have the capability/capacity to execute the work. The assessee group has been generating unaccounted cash from these transactions,” it added.

The release further informed that the search action has led to the detection of unaccounted income of more than Rs 70 crore which has been admitted as undisclosed income by the assessee group.
Further investigation into the matter is underway. (ANI)