The Income Tax Department’s Investigation Wing has unearthed an unprecedented ₹1,000 crore tax evasion during a five-day search and seizure operation on Satyam Balajee Group, marking the largest tax fraud detected in Central India’s history.
Biggest Tax Evasion Case in Maharashtra, MP, and Chhattisgarh
According to senior I-T officials involved in the post-search probe, the operation has revealed extensive unaccounted transactions across Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh. “We had solid intelligence from the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) about the group’s tax evasion, but the actual scale of concealed transactions has shocked us,” an official told.
The search operation was conducted under the supervision of Additional Director of Income Tax (Investigation) Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh, Tarun Kanojia, with Deputy Director Naval Jain leading the field teams.
Massive Seizures of Cash, Jewelry, and Financial Documents
The latest findings include:
- ₹10 crore in unaccounted cash seized.
- Jewelry worth over ₹3.5 crore confiscated from multiple bank lockers.
- 15 bank lockers identified, most of which have been opened, revealing significant cash and assets.
- Manipulated stock records of rice and paddy inventories exposing large-scale financial discrepancies.
Bogus Companies, Fictitious Transactions, and Offshore Dealings
Investigators uncovered an elaborate network of bogus companies and fake transactions used to conceal cash dealings and evade taxes. The group allegedly purchased paddy off the books and later exported processed rice with falsified records, primarily to South Africa, Vietnam, and other Asian nations.
Satyam Balajee Group, one of India’s leading non-basmati rice exporters, officially reports an annual turnover of ₹2,000 crore. However, officials have now confirmed that at least ₹1,000 crore worth of cash transactions were deliberately kept off the books.
“The company used a well-structured method to suppress taxable revenue, routing cash dealings through brokers, millers, and intermediaries,” an I-T official revealed.