I-T Officials Raid Boudh Distilleries In Odisha On Tax Evasion Allegations, Recover Upto Rs 150 Crore So Far: Report

The raids were conducted at Bolangir and Sambalpur in Odisha and Ranchi, and Lohardaga in Jharkhand, officials revealed and the amount of cash recovered till Wednesday stood at up to Rs 50 crore.

The Income Tax (I-T) Department conducted raids at the Boudh Distilleries Private Limited in Odisha on Wednesday and recovered huge amounts of cash in two days. The authorities raided the liquor manufacturing company due to allegations of tax evasion. 

The raids were conducted at Bolangir and Sambalpur in Odisha and Ranchi, and Lohardaga in Jharkhand, officials revealed as reported by ANI. The amount of cash recovered till Wednesday stood at up to Rs 50 crore, after which the machines stopped working since the amount of cash was so high, the agency stated. 

Regional news agency OdishaTV stated that the tax officials collected cash worth more than Rs 150 crore in the two days since the raids started. The report revealed that huge quantities of cash were seized during the raids at the Bolangri office of Baldeo Sahu & Group of Companies, which is one of the biggest country liquor manufacturing and selling firms in western Odisha. The company is the partnership firm of Boudh Distillery Pvt Ltd (BDPL), which was also raided on Wednesday. 

With its headquarters in Odisha, the BDPL Group has other business divisions like Baldeo Sahu Infra Private Limited (fly ash bricks), Kwality Bottlers Pvt Ltd (IMFL bottling), and Kishore Prasad Bijay Prasad Beverages Pvt Ltd (sales and marketing of IMFL brands).

Additionally, the authorities also conducted simultaneous raids at two liquor traders’ residences in Bolangir and Titilagarh and seized cash. The cash recovered from these raids was brought to the State Bank of India’s branch in Bolangir last night and deposited.

Further, the agency revealed that the searches were conducted at the residences of Deepak Sahu and Sanjay Sahu in Titilagarh. Both the liquor barons reportedly fled the town after receiving a tip-off about the raids. 

The I-T authorities also raided the house, office, and country liquor distillery at Sargipali in Sundargarh last night. The corporate office of Boudh Distillery was also raided in Bhubaneswar, along with the homes of some company officials, the company factory, and the office in Boudh Ramchikata and at the Ranisati Rice Mill.