Odisha cash haul: I-T department winds off raids after ten days; sends report to CBDT

BHUBANESWAR/RANCHI: The Income-tax department raids being carried out against an Odisha-based distillery firm owned by a Congress MP’s family, and some linked entities, ended early Friday, capping ten days of searches and recording the country’s “highest-ever” cash haul at Rs 351 crore, official sources said.

The last two I-T teams left the premises, one each in Odisha and Jharkhand, carrying with them a number of seized “incriminating documents” and data cloned from electronic gadgets in the early morning hours.

The searches against the firm — Boudh Distillery Pvt. Ltd. (BDPL)-- and its linked entities were launched last week on December 6.

The taxman also covered the family house of Congress Rajya Sabha MP Dhiraj Prasad Sahu in Ranchi apart from a number of entities including distributors and some hawala operators during these 10-day-long searches, they said.

The searches came to a close in the early hours of December 15, the sources said.

A final appraisal report of the entire operation has been sent as per procedure to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in Delhi by the field investigation unit, they said.

Neither the company nor Sahu has issued any official statement or response on the I-T action till now even as Opposition blamed them for dealing in illicit cash funds.

As many as 30-34 premises in Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal were searched by the department and about three kg of gold jewellery was also seized. I-T officials have claimed to have made the “highest-ever” cash seizure of Rs 351 crore during these raids.