Gurgaon’s Bristol hotel provisionally attached by I-T dept

“Investigations revealed that the said entity and its assets are allegedly the benami assets of Kuldeep Bishnoi and Chander Mohan. The provisional order of attachment was issued under section 24(3) of the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988,” an official said.

Income Tax Department officials from Delhi had carried out searches at the residences and business offices of Kuldeep Bishnoi in July.

Later, the CBDT in a statement, without naming Bishnoi, had said that undisclosed foreign assets of more than Rs 200 crore, domestic tax evasion of over Rs 30 crore, black money stashed abroad in the form of properties in tax havens were detected by the I-T Department.

I-T sources said their probe found that 34% shares in the company are held in the name of a “front” company registered in British Virgin Islands and being operated from UAE.

Benami properties are those in which the real beneficiary is not the one in whose name the property has been purchased. However, a source close to Bishnoi said: “The news is being blown out of proportion. One of the shareholders of Bright Star has been provisionally debarred from further selling or transferring its share to anyone till the completion of the assessment.”