IT dept conducts raids on Hyderabad-based pharma company; Rs 142-cr cash seized

In a major haul of cash, the Income Tax Department has detected unaccounted income of Rs 550 crore and seized over Rs 142 crore cash after its raids on the Hyderabad-based pharma major Hetero pharmaceutical.

According to sources, the raids were conducted on October 6 and further investigations and quantification of undisclosed income detected is in progress.

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During these searches, issues relating to discrepancies in purchases made from bogus and non-existent entities and artificial inflation of certain heads of expenditure were detected. 

Further, evidence of on-money payment for purchase of lands was also found. Various other legal issues were also identified such as personal expenses being booked in the company’s books and land purchased by related parties below government registration value.

हैदराबाद की एक दवा कंपनी पर आयकर विभाग का छापा, छापे में 142 करोड़ रूपये कैश जब्त

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According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance on Saturday, the I-T Department identified handouts where second set of books of accounts and cash were found. Incriminating evidence in the form of digital media, pen drives, documents, etc. have been found and seized by the I-T officials.

“During the search, several bank lockers have been found, out of which 16 lockers have been operated. The searches have resulted in seizure of unexplained cash amounting to Rs. 142.87 crore so far. The unaccounted income unearthed is estimated to be in the range of about Rs 550 crore till now,” added the statement without naming the pharmaceutical company.

This Pharmaceutical group is engaged in the business of manufacturing of intermediates, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and formulations. Majority of the products are exported to foreign countries i.e. USA, Europe, Dubai and other African countries.  The search operation was carried out at about 50 locations in 6 States.