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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Indigo crisis: Shivakumar urges Centre to act immediately, bring situation under control
Bengaluru (PTI): With large scale flight cancellations by Indigo airlines leaving passengers stranded, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday urged the Centre to act immediately and bring the situation under control.
He called the IndiGo fiasco a the direct result of the govt's monopoly model.
Taking to social media platform 'X', Shivakumar said India is witnessing the worst aviation meltdown in its history. "Thousands of flights cancelled - leaving our people stranded everywhere".
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"The IndiGo fiasco is the direct result of the govt's monopoly model. And as always, it is ordinary Indians who are paying the price," he said.
Shivakumar said that the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, which is India's 3rd busiest airport with nearly 40 million travellers a year, is in complete chaos.
"This is hurting families, businesses and our national reputation. I urge the Union Government to act immediately and bring this situation under control. Our people deserve better," he added.
Domestic carrier IndiGo cancelled over 800 flights on Saturday, the fifth day of the ongoing crisis, even as the government imposed a cap on airfares and directed the airline to process all refunds by Sunday evening.
