Income Tax Department found INR 600 crore turnover in an Mumbai based Online Betting group during raid
The Income Tax Department has detected a stock investment of worth INR 600 crore in the last six months from a Mumbai based business group engaged in online gambling and betting, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said on Friday as reported by TOI.
The search raids which took place on February 15th were carried out in 29 different premises across Mumbai, Delhi, Surat, Jaipur, Pune and Kolkata. The businessman and his employees used Sim cards from various foreign countries. The headquarters of this particular group was in Mumbai.
The Directorate General of Income Tax found cash worth INR 3.08 crore and jewellery worth INR 81 lakhs during the raid along with 30 bank accounts as reported by TOI. The Income tax officers reported that the website and the app had access to the account passwords of their clients and employees so that they can alter it if the government agencies come looking for this.
"Preliminary investigation has revealed cash turnover of more than ₹ 600 crore in the last 6 months or so. Listed securities worth more than ₹ 550 crore and 30 bank accounts have been provisionally attached so far," the policy-making body for the tax department said as reported by NDTV.
The business was based in India but they had plans to shift its operations to Dubai. If they would have succeeded in their mission, the illegal business would have gone beyond the reach of the Indian government.
The officer said that the group had area managers and agents in different cities to generate more clients.
"It was detected during the search that, after allotting IDs and passwords to the customers, points are credited into their accounts by agents/area managers after collecting cash from them. The cash is then sent to Mumbai through hawala operators," the officer said as reported by NDTV.
To avoid being caught, the group regularly changed web links and shifted servers. They also used the services of CAs and various middlemen in Mumbai, Jaipur, Pune, Surat and Kolkata.
All the handwritten notes, documents containing detailed information regarding the cash transactions have been seized by CBDT.
"This cash has been routed through several layers of shell companies controlled by the entry provider groups or through hawala channels. The amounts introduced in the books of account have been invested in the real estate and securities market," it claimed as reported by NDTV.
