The Income Tax Department seized cash and assets worth over Rs 8 crore in search and seizure operations carried out on a pharmacy group engaged in the business of manufacturing and distribution of pharmaceutical medicines and real estate development. The raid covered 25 premises of the group in Delhi-NCR and Haryana on Friday.
According to the Income Tax Department, the large number of seized incriminating documents and digital data from this group’s 25 premises revealed the involvement of huge unaccounted sales of pharmaceutical medicines in cash. The group has also been booking bogus Long Term/ 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.
A large number of purchases, payments of wages and other expenses were also found to have been made in cash. This modus-operandi of unaccounted cash sales of pharmaceutical medicines, including cash receipts through hawala for the sale of medicines to Afghanistan, has been admitted by a key person involved in such transactions.
The preliminary analysis of the seized data indicates that such hawala cash receipts amount to Rs. 25 crore approximately. In the case of one pharmaceutical concern dealing in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), surplus stock valued at Rs. 94 crore has been found. The search action has revealed that the group has also floated Benami entities to purchase immovable properties in the State of Himachal Pradesh.
The Income Tax Department further found that the cash generated through unaccounted cash sales has been invested in the purchase of immovable properties, and an expansion of manufacturing facilities for Pharmaceutical medicines. The real estate entities of the group are found to be engaged in out-of-books sales and the purchase of properties in cash.
