Rs 1,000 cr of hawala entry unearthed in Haryana: IT dept

CHANDIGARH: Income Tax department has found that over Rs 1,000 crore were “laundered” through banking channel post demonetisation in Charkhi Dadri in Haryana, a senior official said on Tuesday. “We have detected hawala entry of over Rs 1,000 crore in Charkhi Dadri in Haryana,” Director General of Income Tax (Investigation Wing), Madhu Mahajan said while addressing media here today. The investigation revealed that over Rs 1,000 crore were allegedly found to be “laundered” through banking channel. “An entry operator has been identified who provided undue benefits to more than 18 beneficiaries by facilitating deposits,” said Mahajan adding that the main accused did not have “wherewithal” to carry out such transactions. IT sleuths said the beneficiaries of this “scam” could be more. Post demonetisation various hawala accommodation entry operators had come up which would facilitate deposits for a fee. Benami accounts in layers were opened to launder unaccounted cash, officials said. Meanwhile, after demonetisation, the department had detected Rs 280 crore of undisclosed income in the NWR region including Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu-Kashmir and parts of Haryana. Different kinds of modus operandi were adopted by alleged tax evaders, the officials said. IT sleuths found that in case of a company, cash ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 40,000 was deposited in the accounts of employees which could be withdrawn by only HR and accounts men of that company. The role of bank officials also came under scanner and the department referred the matter to CBI and the Enforcement Director, they said. Similarly, some jewellers allegedly showed huge cash sales to show crores of cash in hand while builders showed backdated cash deposits and agreements to hoodwink authorities, officials said. IT department also found that some cooperative banks were not following the set standard operating procedure (SOP) in Punjab after demonetisation came into effect in November last. IT department seized Rs 2.50 crore of cash from cooperative banks and companies which were entrusted with the job of replenishing ATMs with cash, they said. “We came across that some cooperative banks were not following SOPs and guidelines of RBI with regard to transportation of cash,” said Mahajan. In one of such case, a representative of a cooperative bank in Punjab carried Rs 90 lakh of cash in his backpack alone without following SOP, she said. Meanwhile, DGIT (Investigation wing) informed that in 22 cases, people have come forward to declare Rs 58.56 crore under ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana’. Out of them, nine persons were from Punjab and rest were from Haryana, she added.