Officials of the Income Tax Department seized ₹30 crore while raiding the main
school of a Namakkal-based educational group. They estimate that the group’s undisclosed income could be more than ₹150 crore.
Officials
from Income Tax Department have been conducting raids since Friday at a
school run by the
group, which operates educational institutions and
coaching institutes for competitive exams like NEET. Without naming the
group, the release from Central Board of Direct Taxes, Ministry of
Finance, said it comprises several partnership firms and a trust
controlled by a closely knit group of individuals.
17 locations
The searches covered 17 places, including the residences of the group promoters at Namakkal, Perundurai, Karur and Chennai.
The
raids were conducted on the basis of intelligence that the group was
evading tax by suppression of fee receipts from students. The
modus operandi was to receive part of the fees in cash and such cash receipts were not entered in regular books of accounts.
During
the raids, the officials seized ₹30 crore from a safe inside an
auditorium on the campus. The institution had hired highly-paid faculty
at its coaching institutes and they were paid out of the books. The
raids would continue, the release added.