Rs 4 crore unaccounted cash seized in Karnataka
Bengaluru, April 27: The Income Tax department has seized Rs 4 crore unaccounted cash and 6.5 kg gold jewellery from three state contractors in Bengaluru, Mysuru and Davangere in poll-bound Karnataka, said an official on Friday.
"The unaccounted cash and gold jewellery were found during simultaneous raids on the contractors on Thursday and were seized subsequently," said Joint Income Tax Joint Commissioner G. Ramesh in a statement here.
Of the Rs 4 crore cash, Rs 1.2 crore was found in a moving car after a hot pursuit by the sleuths of the department's investigation wing.
"Besides cash and jewellery, we got evidence of inflated purchases, payments to fake sub-contractors, fraudulent labour payments and unaccounted cash payments," Ramesh said.
The department is on the lookout for hoarded cash in Karnataka and across the country which had recently resulted in the shortage of currency notes in some states.
During raids on April 24-26, the department seized Rs 6.76 crore of unaccounted cash from four government contractors in Mysuru.
Since the May 12 state assembly elections were announced on March 27, the tax department has seized Rs 10.62 crore unaccounted cash and gold jewellery valued at Rs 1.33 crore.
Intelligence collected by the investigation wing also indicated that several contractors across the state were possessing huge stocks of cash in Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 notes.
Earlier, the tax sleuths seized Rs 4.13 crore in cash and 4.52 kg gold jewellery valued at Rs 1.32 crore during raids conducted across the state over the last three weeks.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
