IT Deptt raids Dy Mayor’s business complexes
Imran produces bogus bills worth crores for Govt subsidy
Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, June 11: The Income Tax Department today conducted searches of a prominent business group in Kashmir owned by Deputy Mayor of Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC), Sheikh Imran, in connection with a bank case and undisclosed properties.
The IT has found undisclosed properties worth tens of crores of rupees and a Jammu and Kashmir Bank officer who received several out of turn promotions helped Sheikh Imran to get one time settlement of his Rs 170 crore bank loan at Rs 77 Crore. It has found that he has managed to get Government subsidy by producing bogus bills worth crores of rupees.
The IT search and seizure operations were conducted at Sheikh Imran’s businesses at Sangarmal, Naid Kadal, Hawal, Nowgam, Brain Nishat and Grand Mahal hotel in Nishat and his business in Delhi and another in Bengaluru.
The group owned by Sheikh Imran is engaged in the business of transportation, manufacturing of silk yarn, hospitality, retail trading of Kashmir Arts and Crafts etc. It has been found that none of the members of the group is regular in filing their Income Tax Returns.
The IT Department has also found incriminating evidence relating to sale of undisclosed property amounting to Rs 22 crore; agreement to sell transport business for Rs.9.10 crore and undisclosed profit of Rs.15-20 crore on account of sale of Cold Storage plant at Lassipora.
The cost of this project was found to have been inflated to Rs.47 crore instead of the actual cost of Rs.17 crore, for claiming more subsidy from the Government by raising inflated and bogus bills. The loan for this project was taken from J&K Bank.
It has found undisclosed properties at Sonamarg worth Rs 2.68 crore, Pahalgam Rs 3.55 crore and Bengaluru Rs 1 crore.
The IT Deptt has found that one shop has been purchased in partnership in Delhi for Rs 1.02 crore and during the search, digital evidence found has been seized and IT is analyzing it.
As a onetime settlement, the group has got their loans of Rs.170 crore with J&K Bank restructured for Rs 77 crore, out of which, payment of only Rs 50.34 crore to the J&K Bank has been made so far and balance of Rs 27.66 crore is yet to be paid.
During the search, it said, evidence has been detected indicating that the one-time settlement of the loan from J&K Bank has been done through the active connivance of a senior J&K Bank officer who was receiving several out of turn promotions.
“Furthermore, evidence has also been unearthed indicating that the repayment of Rs 50.34 crore pertaining to the said loan has been green fielded by the J&K Bank by granting a loan of similar amount to an associate who has confessed to his role in layering the entire transaction”, the IT Department said.
Excelsior had earlier also mentioned about the onetime settlement of loans of Rs.170 crore with J&K Bank that were illegally restructured for Rs 77 crore and out of which, payment of only Rs 50.34 crore was made to the J&K Bank and balance of Rs 27.66 crore was yet to be paid.
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