The Income Tax Department has seized unexplained cash amounting to Rs 142.87 crore so far in search and seizure operations carried out against a leading Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical group on Wednesday. The unaccounted income unearthed in the raid is estimated to be in the range of about Rs 550 crore till now, according to information provided by the Income Tax department on Saturday.

During the search, several bank lockers have been found, out of which 16 lockers have been operated.

The pharmaceutical group is engaged in the business of manufacturing of intermediates, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and formulations. Majority of the products are exported to foreign countries such as the USA, Europe, Dubai and other African countries.  The search operation was carried out at about 50 locations in 6 States.

During the searches, hideouts were identified where a second set of books of accounts and cash were found. Incriminating evidence in the form of digital media, pen drives, documents, etc. have been found and seized. Incriminating digital evidence was gathered from SAP @ ERP software maintained by the assessee group, the official statement said.

During these searches, issues relating to discrepancies in purchases made from bogus and non-existent entities and artificial inflation of certain heads of expenditure were detected. Further, evidence of on-money payment for purchase of lands was also found. Various other legal issues were also identified such as personal expenses being booked in the company’s books and land purchased by related parties below government registration value.

Further investigations and quantification of undisclosed income detected is in progress.

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