In biggest I-T raid, Rs 160 Cr in cash, over 100 kg gold recovered from a Tamil Nadu firm

In one of the biggest recoveries till date, the Income Tax Department on Tuesday seized about Rs 160 crore cash and gold jewellery weighing about 100 kg from the premises of a road construction firm in Tamil Nadu.

The sleuths of I-T department conducted searches at several premises of road construction firm M/S SPK and Company, on contract from the government.

“About Rs 160 crore cash, which is suspected to be unaccounted for, and bullion and gold jewellery weighing about 100 kg has been recovered so far. The raids are still on and these figures may further go up,” PTI quoted a senior I-T official as saying.

The tax officials claimed that the recoveries made from the firm were probably the highest in a raid anywhere in the country till date.

Earlier, the highest recovery of cash was of over Rs 110 crore from the premises of a mining baron in Chennai post-demonetisation in 2016.

A total of 22 premises -- 17 in Chennai, four in Aruppukottai (Virudhunagar district) and one in Katpadi (Vellore) -- were searched. The raids will continue for another day, the official said.

The raids were conducted after the department found “evidence of suspected tax evasion by the firm and its associates”, who also have political links, he said.

The cash was kept in big travel bags and in parked cars, and dozens of gold biscuits have been recovered till now, they said. The searches are expected to continue for another day, they said.

(With inputs from PTI)