income tax department Archives - Lokmarg

IT Raids On Locations Linked To SP Leader Azam Khan

By LokMarg 13th September 2023

The Income Tax department on Wednesday morning conducted searches at multiple premises linked to Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan in Uttar Pradesh, sources said.

Teams of IT personnel reached cities including Rampur, Meerut, Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Saharanpur and Sitapur to raid multiple premises linked to the Samajwadi Party leader.

Azam Khan was elected MLA from the Rampur Sadar constituency.

The state Assembly Secretariat, earlier in October, announced Khan’s disqualification from the House after a court sentenced him to three years in jail in a hate speech case.

The case was registered against Khan in April 2019 for levelling serious allegations against administrative officials posted in Rampur, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during an election meeting.

During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Khan was booked for making inflammatory speeches while addressing a public meeting in Khatanagaria village of the Milak Kotwali area.

Earlier Allahabad High Court in May 2022 had granted interim bail to Azam Khan in a matter which was related to a wrongful possession of Waqf board property land.

Azam Khan began his political career by winning the 1980 assembly election on Janata Party (Secular) ticket from Rampur. He has served as a minister in both Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav governments. (ANI)

Behave, Or Else: Chidambaram Slams Centre At I-T survey at BBC Offices

By LokMarg 14th February 2023

Congress MP and former Union minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday attacked the Centre after the Income Tax department “surveyed” the offices of British public broadcaster BBC, saying the government has redefined press freedom as per its convenience.

Taking to Twitter, Chidambaram said, “After practically shutting down Amnesty International and OXFAM, the BBC is next in line. Shameful! Government’s message to all citizens and organisations is “behave, or else” Government’s definition of freedom of the press is ‘we are a free country, you are free to express your opinion as long as it agrees with mine’.”
The Income Tax department on Tuesday conducted a survey at BBC’s offices in Delhi and Mumbai in view of the British public broadcaster’s “deliberate non-compliance” with the Transfer Pricing Rules and its vast diversion of profits, said sources.

Earlier this morning, I-T officials arrived at BBC offices located at the national capital’s KG Marg and Mumbai’s Kalina Santacruz for the survey.

Accordingly, the surveys have been conducted with a view to investigating BBC’s violation of the Transfer Pricing Rules and its diversion of profits.

After the IT department survey, sources in the United Kingdom government said they are monitoring the developments closely.

“We are closely monitoring reports of tax surveys conducted at the offices of the BBC in India,” the UK government sources said.

Meanwhile, BBC has said it is cooperating with the Income Tax department, which is conducting a survey at its offices in New Delhi and Mumbai.

“The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating,” the BBC News Press Team said in a statement.

Pertinent to mention, the development comes weeks after the BBC released a documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi – “India: The Modi Question,” which caused controversy.

The Centre had issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial BBC documentary on PM Modi.

The Supreme Court had on February 3 directed the central government to produce original records relating to its decision to block the BBC documentary. (ANI)

J’khand: I-T Dept Raids Unearth Rs 2 Cr Cash, Rs 100 Cr Unaccounted Transactions

By LokMarg 8th November 2022

Jharkhand’s income tax department recovered Rs 2 crore in cash, and Rs 100 crore in unaccounted investments/transactions, and a total of 16 bank lockers have been put under restraint after a series of search and seizure actions on 50 premises in various states.

These raids were done on a few business groups engaged in coal trading/ transportation, execution of civil contracts, extraction of iron ore, and production of sponge iron on November 4, 2022. Those searched include two politically exposed persons and their associates. The searches were carried out at more than 50 premises spread over Ranchi, Godda, Bermo, Dumka, Jamshedpur, Chaibasa, Patna, Gurugram, and Kolkata.
The search operation has led to the seizure of a large number of incriminating documents and digital evidence. A preliminary analysis of this evidence indicated that these groups have resorted to various modus operandi of tax evasion including inflation of expenses, transactions of loans in cash, payments/receipts in cash, and suppression of production. During the search, it has also been found that investments have been made in immovable properties, the source of which could not be fully explained.

According to the statement of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the search operation also revealed that one of the groups engaged in civil contracts was not maintaining regular books of account. The group has been inflating its expenses by entering into non-genuine transactions of purchase of raw material/ sub-contract expenses in a lump sum at the fag end of the year. Evidence seized also suggested that unfair payments in cash had been made to secure contracts.

The CBDT statement stated in the case of the other group engaged in coal trading/ extraction of iron ore, etc, unaccounted stock of iron ore of huge value has been found, which is yet to be quantified. The said group has also introduced its unaccounted money in the form of unsecured loans and share capital by layering the transactions through shell companies. Professionals associated with this group admitted that they had not verified any supporting documents and had signed the audit report prepared by the group’s accountant without due diligence, the statement added.

The CBDT statement also said that further investigations were under progress. (ANI)

Pan India Income Tax Raids Underway To Unearth Bogus Donations To Political Parties

By LokMarg 7th September 2022

The Income Tax (IT) department is conducting raids on political parties across the country on Wednesday in connection with the alleged bogus donation and tax fraud, said sources.

The raids are underway in multiple cities in over half a dozen States. These political parties were involved in serious financial impropriety by receiving donations without due statutory compliances, according to sources.
Sources further said the Election Commission of India in May this year took action against such political parties who had claimed IT exemption without complying with statutory requirements and deleted 87 political parties from its list for bogus donation and tax fraud and violating norms.

In Lucknow, the IT team arrived at the residence of Rashtriya Krantikari Samajwadi Party chief Gopal Rai.

According to sources, several NGOs are run by Rai. The IT department is investigating cases related to tax evasion.

Further details are underway. (ANI)