IT raids at popular retail chains reveal Rs 1,000 cr sales suppression

Chennai : The recent raids conducted by the Income-Tax department at the premises of Saravana Stores jewellery and textile retail chain, has revealed suppression of sales to the tune of more than Rs 1,000 crore over a period of years.

The raids in the two groups of Saravana chain of stores led to the seizure of Rs 10 crore cash and Rs six crore jewellery and bullion.

A statement issued by the Income-Tax department today said the raids were conducted in 37 premises in respect of two groups engaged in retail sales of jewellery, textiles and home appliances through their popular chain of stores in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Tirunelveli on December one.

In the case of the first group, seized documents and other incriminating materials seized have revealed that the assessee had been actively involved in systematically suppressing sales by manipulating their books of accounts.

‘The extent of suppression of sales is found to be more than Rs 1,000 crore over a period of years”, the release said, adding, it was also found that the assessee had made unaccounted cash purchases of about Rs 150 crore in textile and jewellery divisions during the past few years.

In respect of the second group, incriminating materials seized revealed that the assessee group had obtained bogus bills from a set of parties to the tune of Rs 80 crore and suppressed taxable income.

“Evidence relating to the unaccounted purchases of gold have also been gathered”, the release said.

Besides, the group was found to be debiting inflated making charges of jewellery. In addition, unaccounted rental receipts and unaccounted scrap sales aggregating to Rs seven crore have also been detected.

Further investigations are under progress.

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