The Income Tax Department initiated a search and seizure operation on Dec 3 on a Sangini group, and Arihant jewellers in Surat. The search action has led to the seizure of unexplained cash of Rs. 4 crore and jewellery valued at Rs. 3 crore while more than a dozen bank lockers have been placed under restraint. The search action has led to the detection of estimated undisclosed receipts and suspicious nature of entries aggregating to more than Rs. 650 crore. Further, deeper examination of physical books of account and incriminating evidence seized during the search action shows unexplained investments of more than Rs. 200 crore in real estate and more than Rs. 100 crore by way of loan financing.
A preliminary analysis of this evidence indicates unaccounted cash receipt of on- money of more than Rs. 300 crore on sale of flats / land which is not found recorded in the regular books of account. Evidence of unaccounted cash infusion by partners, bogus accommodation entry loans by payment of cash and unexplained cash expenses etc. have also been noticed.
About 30 teams of taxmen descended upon various premises of builders, jewellers and investors in Pilod and Vesu areas of the city.
Sources said surveys were carried out at Sangini group, Arihant group, their directors, as well as officials of Mahendra Champak group, at a total of 30 premises, both offices and residences. The prominent group of Surat, engaged in the business of construction of residential and commercial complexes, land transactions as well as real estate financing. The search action covered more than 40 premises spread over Surat and Mumbai.
During the course of the search action, various incriminating documentary and digital evidences have been found and seized including a parallel set of books of account in the case of group entities. The transactions of certain group entities have been found to be maintained in a highly coded manner but were successfully decoded by the search team.
Sangini Group
Owner of Sangini Group, Velji Mohan Sheta is a popular businessman of Surat. He is currently director in three companies: Surat Smart city development ltd, Confederation of real estate developers association of India and Sangini realty private ltd. He also holds the position of director in three Limited Liability Partnership firms such as Vee Aar Life Space, Sangini Infra and Kalash distributors. Sheta belongs to Patel community and was earlier working to create better job opportunities for Patidar. Sheta was also on the advisory board at Auro University, Surat.
Established in 1984, Sangini has been involved in construction of residential and commercial projects. It has done 62 projects with a total constructed space of 73 lakh sq. ft. These projects comprise 4600 residential units and 1800 commercial units. It’s corporate office is in Shyam Sangini, Sangini House, Besides Canal Rd, Vesu, Surat.
Further investigations are under progress.
