The Income Tax Department too has joined the Central agencies, the National Investigation Agency, the Enforcement Directorate, and the Customs, in probing the diplomatic baggage gold smuggling case.
The I-T Department has approached the Economic Offences Court, Ernakulam, seeking permission to probe the suspected income tax evasion and benami purchase of holdings by the accused in the smuggling case. The department has sought permission to interrogate Swapna Suresh, P.S. Sarith, Sandeep Nair, Hamjad Ali, A.M. Jalal, P. Mohamad Shafi, T.M. Mohammad Anwar, E. Said Alavi, and K.T. Rameez.
Cash in locker
According to the department, the investigation into the gold smuggling case has so far yielded over ₹1 crore from the safe deposit lockers of Swapna, besides 982.5 gram gold ornaments. The source of the cash and the valuables was unclear. Gold smuggling and subsequent activities had generated unaccounted income for various persons, attracting provisions of the Income Tax Act 1961.
It submitted that some of the unaccounted income generated through the gold smuggling could be invested in properties in benami names, attracting the provisions the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act 1988.
In-depth probe
The agency believed that the gold smuggling case had to be investigated in depth to identify those in the total value chain, look into the unaccounted income generated, and recover the legitimate taxes.
As the accused were in judicial custody, the permission of the court was required for the department to issue summons, submitted Rishikesh Shenoy, the counsel for the department.
The nine persons could have concealed their income and assets. They needed to be examined under oath and asked to produce documents, the department submitted. The court has posted the case for September 22.