Income Tax Dept raids Hyderabad-based pharma group, seizes Rs 142 cr

The Income Tax Department seized Rs 142 core in searches carried out on a major pharmaceutical group based out of Hyderabad. The search and seizure operations were conducted on October 6 across 50 locations in six states, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

"The searches have resulted in seizure of unexplained cash amounting to Rs 142.87 crore so far. The unaccounted income unearthed is estimated to be in the range of about Rs 550 crore till now," the statement said.

The pharmaceutical group is engaged in the business of manufacturing intermediates, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and formulations. The majority of its products are exported to countries such as the USA, Europe, Dubai and African countries.

During the searches, hideouts were identified where a second set of books of accounts and cash were discovered. "Incriminating evidence in the form of digital media, pen drives, documents, etc. have been found and seized," the statement said.

The Income Tax Department has also detected issues relating to discrepancies in purchases made from bogus and non-existent entities and artificial inflation of certain heads of expenditure.

Further, evidence of on-money payment for the purchase of lands was also unearthed. "Various other legal issues were also identified such as personal expenses being booked in the company's books and land purchased by related parties below government registration value".

During the operation, several bank lockers have been found, out of which 16 lockers have been operated. Further investigations and quantification of undisclosed income detected is in progress, the statement said.

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