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Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, DEC 7: The Income Tax department sleuths today conducted raids on 34 premises of Sun Pharmaceuticals, a BSE listed company. The raids covered Mumbai, Delhi, Baroda, Ahmedabad, and Dadra amp; Nagar Haveli.
IT sources claimed they had discovered bogus claims of various deductions. The department suspects the wrong deductions under sections 80 I A and 80 H C are likely to be in the region of Rs 10 crore. A huge number of transactions of bogus billing are also detected, sources said.
Sources say the company had also tried to adjust profits by claiming false depreciation and entering into some questionablelease-back transactions through state electricity boards. Interrogation of some top company officials is also said to be on while Sun Pharma did not make any official comment.
Confirming the raids, director general of investigation NP Sahani said that 40 lockers have been sealed by the department while few bank accounts have been put under prohibitory orders. The search also involved a Bombay Stock Exchange broker, Anuj Sheth and a clearing house agent. The department did not rule out the possibility of price rigging by the broker.
quot;We cannot rule out direct role of the broker in jacking up the scrip of Sun Pharma,quot; sources in the revenue department said. Repeated attempts to contact Sheth proved futile. Sources said that I-T officials searched the back-office data of the brokerage, but did not seize any files or documents. Although the search was conducted during market hours, the stock failed to react negatively. The scrip, which was being quoted between Rs 305 and Rs 320, closed at Rs 315.75,registering a gain of 4.8 per cent.
Sun Pharmaceuticals has been in the limelight for a host of mergers and acquisitions in the last couple of years. It acquired Gujarat Lyka Organics Ltd and Tamil Nadu Dadha Pharmaceuticals in 1997. Sun recently announced its intent to consider a merger with the privately owned eye care firm Milmet Laboratories in Baroda. The proposed merger, if successful, could mark Sun8217;s sixth major effort towards inorganic growth and comes close on the heels of its buy-out of a clutch of brands from Natco Pharma.
