Record Cash Haul During I-T Raids In Odisha: Role Of Hawala Operators Likely To Be Probed By ED

Bhubaneswar: With the ‘highest-ever’ cash seizure of more than Rs 350 crore by Income Tax officials during raids against a distillery group owned by a Congress MP’s family, the role of hawala operators and shell companies that were allegedly used to channel the ‘illicit’ funds has come under the scanner, official sources said.

An interim report on the action has also been sent by the field investigation wing of the income tax department to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in Delhi, the administrative body for the department, said a PTI report.

The searches that began against the Bhubaneswar-headquartered Boudh Distillery Pvt Ltd (BDPL) on December 6 and held at about seven locations concluded on Tuesday. The week-long operation was carried out on charges of alleged tax evasion and ‘out of book’ transactions.

After the over Rs 350 crore cash by the I-T department from liquor traders like Baldeo Sahu and Sons, the probability of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) looking into the suspected money laundering aspect of this case is looming large. Joint director of the ED reportedly met some IT official in this regard on Tuesday.

As per reports, a three-member team of the ED led by its joint director visited the IT department office and a formal announcement about further probe by the agency into the huge cash seizure is expected soon. As per reports, the ED may probe certain aspects like the source and the trail of the cash.

Before winding up the raids on the liquor manufacturing factory at Sudapada in Balangir, the IT sleuths reportedly took two managers of the unit to an unknown location for interrogation.
During the operation by the I-T officials, as many as 30-34 premises in Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal were searched, the sources said. About 3 kg of gold jewellery was also seized by the department, they said.

A number of hawala operators working in these three states and the incorporation of some ‘shell’ or dubious companies are under the scanner of the department after documents indicating their roles were recovered during these searches and recovery of the huge cash, the sources said.

The premises of the Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand, Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, in Ranchi and other places, were also covered during the searches by the department. The company and Sahu did not respond to PTI’s queries regarding the action being carried out against them.

Meanwhile, the seizure of such a huge amount of cash from places linked to the Congress MP has triggered a political row. In Odisha, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) targeted the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Congress over the issue. BJP accused the BJD government of protecting and shielding the illegal operators and allowing them to amass huge wealth.