New Delhi: The total amount of cash seized during the ongoing Income Tax raids at an Odisha-based distillery company has gone past Rs 300 crore and counting is still underway, news agency PTI quoted its sources as saying. The I-T raids against Boudh Distillery Private Limited entered the fifth day on Sunday after the department launched its action on charges of tax evasion and "off-the-book" transactions.
This is the highest-ever cash seizure made by an agency in the country against a single group and entities linked to it and the Income Tax department believes that the entire cache of currency is "unaccounted" money from cash sales of country liquor by the business group, distributors and others, the news agency quoted its sources as saying.
According to the report, the I-T department has also recorded the statements of the executives and other staff present at the locations where the raids were carried out and will soon summon the main promoters of the company for recording their statements.
The premises linked to Congress's Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand, Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, in Ranchi and other places were also covered during the searches.
Meanwhile, reiterating its stand on the cash seizure, the Congress on Sunday said Sahu should explain how he received the cash recovered from his locations. The party sought to distance itself saying it has got nothing to do with the matter.
"I want to clarify that the party's stand on this issue is very clear. This is a personal issue of Dhiraj Sahu, and the Congress is not related to it. It is Sahu's responsibility to clarify how he received such large amount of money which the party would also want to know and has conveyed clear indications for the same,” PTI quoted Congress leader Avinash Pandey as saying.