I-T crackdowns on bureaucrats unearth Rs 20 cr black income

The Income Tax department has detected undisclosed income worth over Rs 20 crore after it conducted searches against some bureaucrats based in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Official sources in the tax department said raids were carried out in the last two days against four government functionaries in these states including against a general manager of the Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd (UPRNN) in Dehradun for alleged "misuse of official position" and subsequent charges of tax evasion. "Documents showing undisclosed investments in farm houses spread over hundreds of bighas and immovable properties in other cities have been seized," a senior official said.

The tax sleuths have also made an inventory of some costly assets and posh vehicles like Range Rover, an Audi and a BMW car from the premises of the official and his family.

They said the I-T teams were surprised to find 15 large LED television sets fitted in the farm house which was constructed on a land earmarked to setup a factory. A well- equipped gym, a guest house and an under-construction swimming pool were also found there.

"The department is probing tax evasion to the tune of a few crores against the official and his associates based in Rishikesh," they claimed, without elaborating further.

In an another search operation against a local body chairman in UP's Siddharthnagar district, the department detected tax evasion to the "tune of Rs 10 crore as per preliminary estimates."