I-T dept raids Delhi-Haryana pharma and realty cos; seizes cash and gold

Finds links to Hawala sale of medicines to Afghanistan

The Income Tax Department carried out search and seizure operations on June 29 on pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors in Delhi-NCR and Haryana along with some real estate players in the region, according to a Ministry of Finance release today. Cash receipts through hawala for sale of medicines to Afghanistan have been admitted by a key person involved in such transactions, the ministry statement claimed.

So far, unaccounted cash of Rs 4.2 crore and jewellery or bullion worth Rs 4 crore have been seized.  

The search covered 25 premises in Delhi-NCR and Haryana.

"A large number of incriminating documents in the form of loose sheets and digital data have been found and seized. These documents reveal that the group was involved in huge unaccounted sales of pharmaceutical medicines in cash. Large amounts of purchases, payments of wages and other expenses were also found to have been made in cash," the release said.

This modus-operandi of unaccounted cash sales of pharmaceutical medicines, including cash receipts through hawala for sale of medicines to Afghanistan, has been admitted by a key person involved in such transactions, the MoF said.

The preliminary analysis of the seized data indicates that such hawala cash receipts amount to Rs 25 crore approximately. Surplus stock valued at Rs 94 crore has been found at one pharma concern dealing in active pharmaceutical ingredients (API),

It was also found that the cash generated through unaccounted cash sales had been invested to purchase immovable properties, and expand manufacturing facilities of pharmaceutical medicines, MoF said.

"The real estate entities of the group are found to be engaged in out-of-books sale and purchase of properties in cash. The group has also been booking bogus Long Term or Short Term Capital Losses in the securities market to offset the capital gains earned on such property transactions. The amount of such bogus losses is estimated to be around Rs 20 crore. The search action has revealed that the group has also floated benami entities to purchase immovable properties in the State of Himachal Pradesh," the statement read.

Further investigations are in progress, the MoF said.