Raids on diamond exporters yield Rs 12.74 cr

Mumbai, August 28: Last week's Income Tax raids on diamond exporters yielded a total seizure of cash and gems worth Rs 12.74 crore. Last T...

Mumbai, August 28: Last week8217;s Income Tax raids on diamond exporters yielded a total seizure of cash and gems worth Rs 12.74 crore. Last Thursday8217;s action on the diamond trade has come after a hiatus of nearly three years, though the diamond trade is hardly immune to tax evasion. Of the total seizure, the cash seizure was Rs 7.40 lakh.

The three groups raided over Thursday, Friday and Saturday are Premkumar Agarwal of Premier Gems, Shantilal and Shekhar Shah, all operating in Opera House. Agarwal8217;s lockers and other property are under prohibitory orders and will be opened once he is back from hospital. He was admitted to a city hospital soon after the raids.

The 20 lockers and safes sealed after the searches are also yet to be opened. The total seizure, therefore, is likely to be much higher.

Of the seizures made as of now, the major part is from Shantilal, whose business in big diamonds/coloured gems was almost wholly undisclosed. One of the diamonds seized from his house weighs 27.04 carats, and is valued at Rs 6.8 crore alone. His customers are the glitterati of the city, sources in the trade told Newsline. Almost all the undisclosed business was discovered at his residence.

The searches led to the discovery of really huge pieces of gems, not ordinarily seen, an I-T official said.

Sleuths of the directorate of investigation, I-T are also examining leads of alleged overinvoicing of exports and the purchase and sale of smuggled diamonds/gems. In fact, following the I-T raids, customs and DRI have started their own investigations, sources said.

Allegations of misuse of exemptions under section 80 HHC of the I-T Act are being examined. Most of the companies belonging to the three groups were assessed up to only Rs 10 lakh, sources said.

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Gems worth nearly a crore of rupees were seized from Shakhar Shah8217;s premises. Incriminating documents indicating investments by the three groups into various businesses one of them also into film financing were also found during the searches.