I-T raids in Sahara group premises in Delhi, Noida; whopping amount seized

New Delhi, Nov 25: In the biggest ever cash seizure by I-T department in a single case, Rs 137 crore in cash was seized in the two-day raids carried out on the premises of the Sahara Group in Delhi and Noida, said a TOI report.

It took 36 hours for the officials to finish counting the money and interestingly, the counting machines broke down while the counting was on.

I-T raids were conducted on charges of tax evasion after the department got a tip-off that the company had unaccounted money with it. According to TOI report, the money was recovered from the company's guesthouse in Delhi and office premises in Noida.

However, the company denied the charges and claimed that the money was accounted for but failed to produce the book of accounts.

Sahara chief Subrata Roy is serving imprisonment in Tihar Jail for around eight months now after the company failed to raise the Rs 10,000 crore required to secure his bail.

(Read: Subrata Roy to sleep on the floor at Tihar, eat jail food)

Sahara, after the I-T raids, said that the reports regarding the amount of cash seized were speculative and not correct. They also said that "each and every penny is company's legitimate money", according to TOI report.

On Saturday, the Sahara group had issued a statement saying it didn't to understand why I-T raids were conducted. The statement said that the money found by the I-T department was legitimate company funds which were accounted for.

"Since last one year, we are facing complete embargo on our properties and for 20 months all our accounts were frozen and the entire amount from the frozen accounts have been paid to Sebi. Under such circumstances, we are tightly managing the affairs of our big organization and hence some legitimate cash is kept at various points for different kinds of requirements and emergencies," the statement said, according to the TOI article.

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