I-T raid: Sleuths seize `3.5 cr from renowned gynaecologist

Kolkata: Income Tax officials on Saturday conducted raids at five places in Kolkata and eight places in Bokaro, Jharkhand, including residences of some leading doctors in the city. Sources in the I-T department informed that search operations were conducted at the residences, chambers and pathology centres of some city doctors and unaccounted cash worth a few crores were recovered during the raid.

The I-T raid begun from Friday and continued till Saturday late afternoon. The residence and clinic of a leading gynecologist in the city who has his residence at Bakultala in Behala was also raided by the I-T officials. The team recovered cash worth Rs 3.5 crore during the raid. "The eminent doctor failed to furnish documents pertaining to this cash," a senior I-T officer said on conditions of anonymity.

The clinic of the Behala-based gynecologist that has come under the I-T scanner sees patients from all parts of the state and also those who come from neighbouring states as well as from Bangladesh on a daily basis. The doctor is also an expert in IVF.

During investigation, officers of the I-T department had made a list of some leading doctors in the city and Jharkhand whose I-T returns had several discrepancies. "We have information that these persons had illegally made crores of black money white post demonetisation. The raid is a part of the investigation process to unearth unaccounted cash," a source in the I-T department said.

The I-T officers have also collected important evidences during the raid which will help them to pursue their next course of action. I-T sleuths revealed that the doctor has three houses in the city and huge amount of property. "We are also trying to find out whether the doctor has any property outside the state," the officer said.

The intelligence and criminal investigation wing of the I-T department in Bengal is probing 100 high-value transactions involving a cumulative value of about Rs 1,500 crore that were carried out without quoting Permanent Account Number (PAN). Most of the transactions were recorded between January 2016 and March 2017.

Several dubious transactions came to light post demonetisation and the I-T department is working to unearth the illegal source of money of scores of people. Besides real estate deals, purchase of gold and

expensive jewellery, investments in mutual fund and shares and expenses on foreign trips are also being investigated. The Income Tax department had a major seizure of cash worth Rs 3.86 crore on December 24 last year, all in demonetised currency notes. The total seizure of demonetised currency notes till December-end was over Rs 25 crore.