The Income Tax Department has seized unexplained cash of ₹143 crore in searches conducted in a Hyderabad based based pharma group.

"The searches have resulted in seizure of unexplained cash amounting to ₹142.87 crore so far. The unaccounted income unearthed is estimated to be in the range of about ₹550 crore till now, " the I-T Department said in a release on Saturday.

The search and seizure operations were carried out on October 6, 2021 at about 50 locations in 6 States.

During the searches, hideouts were identified where 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 evidences were gathered from SAP @ ERP software maintained by the assessee group, " it 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 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.

In addition, several bank lockers have been found, out of which 16 lockers have been operated.

The release added that "Further investigations and quantification of undisclosed income detected is in progress, "

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.

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