In a major crackdown on tax evasion carried out through the non-profit sector, the Income Tax Investigation Unit, Agra, initiated searches at more than 30 locations spanning six states, including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh since August 19, senior Income Tax officials confirmed on Saturday.
The officials said the search under the direction of the principal director of Income Tax (Investigation), Kanpur, is still ongoing and major findings in respect of tax evasion worth several crores are expected.
A senior Income Tax official said the searches were conducted over concerns about the misuse of CSR (corporate social responsibility) donations made under Section 135 of Companies Act to NGOs.
“While busting the entire complex network, the Income Tax investigation officers have found another piece of evidence which suggests bogus remittances of more than 10,000 crore outside of the country to foreign countries like Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, China etc,” he said.
He stated that the searches were conducted on various Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs), including Jan Jagriti Sevarth Sansthan (Mathura), Dr Brajmohan Sapoot Kala Sanskriti Seva Sansthan (Bhilwara, Rajasthan) and Raginiben Bipinchandra Sevakarya Trust (Ahmedabad, Gujarat).
The official said the searches revealed that these three trusts were involved in the siphoning off and misuse of more than ₹800 crores worth of CSR donations.
“Although these organisations claimed to operate in sectors of education, health, employment, and social welfare, search investigations revealed that these trusts were not involved in any charitable activities,” he stated.
