Week-long income tax searches at some 100 locations linked to DMK MP S Jagathrakshakan and the Saveetha group of educational institutions have yielded unaccounted fee receipts worth 400 crore, bogus expenditure for 500 crore in distillery business and fund diversion of 300 crore from trusts for personal expenditure, the I-T department said.
The I-T department also seized unaccounted cash of 32 crore and gold bullion worth 28 crore, it said in an official statement issued on Wednesday. The statement, which did not name the entities, said the searched places included educational institutions, distillery, pharmaceuticals, hospitals and hotels in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Officials have also seized loose sheets, hard copy of documents and digital data.
It said they have detected unaccounted fee receipts for more than 400 crore and false claim of disbursement of scholarship to the tune of 25 crore. “One of the groups utilised the services of agents for garnering students, for which unaccounted commission payment of about 25 crore had been made,” it said.
Bogus expenditure for about 500 crore had been claimed for purchase of bottles, flavours, extra-neutral alcohol and freight charges. The I-T sleuths also gathered evidence to show cheques had been issued to various nonexistent entities and then it was received back in the form of cash for making unaccounted investments.
“The seized documents suggest that 300 crore has been diverted from the respective trusts either for personal expenses of the trustees or for deployment in diverse businesses. It includes payments made by one of the groups for acquiring an industrial entity in Andhra Pradesh,” said I-T department’s statement.
