Against Jadeja and Azhar, we have clinching evidence of concealed income’

Speaking to The Indian Express, Parija said he was more than satisfied with the kind of evidence and documents picked up during the searches, codenamed Operation Gentleman. “We went in with specific briefs about what we were looking for. And we have got much more than we expected. Even in the cases of persons like Ajay Jadeja and Mohammad Azharuddin, who were not present at the time of the searches, the issue of undisclosed income has been clinched.”

Among the most incriminating evidence reported to have been found is that in the houses of Deepak Kumar, a bookie, and Karan Dubey, a business associate of Kapil Dev and a former Ranji Trophy player. In the case of Kumar, detailed betting sheets and settlement registers have been seized, with details of cash inflows and outflows listed for several cricket matches. Sources say, the initials “A J” have been noticed against several payments in registers and diaries. Similar betting sheets have been picked up from the offices of another bookie, Hans Kumar Jain.

It is significant that while members of the entire betting syndicate — targeted by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate — were believed to have gone underground, IT officials say that at least two prominent bookies have owned up.

In the case of Delhi-based Rattan Mehta, his family members are said to have confessed that betting was, indeed, their means of livelihood. And I-T officers found a Rs 4-crore declaration under the VDIS amnesty scheme by family members of one of the persons searched in Delhi yesterday.

This takes the number of VDIS declarants linked to the cricket scam to three with information coming in–before the raids–that one Delhi-based cricketer had pledged Rs 15 lakhs in the scheme and another in Punjab, Rs 80 lakhs.

The Punjab-based player, is also to be quizzed for the undeclared gift of Rs 65 lakhs he says he received from a member of his family.

Besides these specific cases, officials say, they have discerned a pattern of players and bookies going on a property acqusition binge (including farm lands and farm houses) during the last few years, making huge investments in shares and having receiving hefty gifts in cash and kind from abroad.

In Delhi, Kapil Dev and Ajay Jadeja are alleged to have amassed properties and under-valued them in their returns.

In all, 17 bank lockers have been sealed in Delhi, two or three of them belonging to Kapil Dev or his wife Romi Dev and the rest mostly to the bookies. The Government’s official seal on the lockers will be removed early next week and a panchnaama (list of recoveries) prepared.

The next step will be a valuation of properties and preperation of a list of assets in each case. An appraisal report wil be prepared by the assessing officer on the basis of this information within 60 days time.

A notice will then be despatched to the assessee, giving him 45 days time to file a “block assessment” for the years 1990-2000 listing all the undeclared assets. A sort of amnesty offer of paying 60% of the value of concealment will be made under law. Should the tax not come in, prosecution will be launched, with the undeclared income and assets attracting stiff penalties and interest.