The searches were carried out at 32 locations in Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Coimbatore, Salem, Trichy, Madurai and Tirunelveli on Tuesday.

"The searches, so far, have resulted in the detection of undisclosed income of more than Rs 500 crore. In fact, the assessee has made voluntary disclosure of Rs 150 crore out of the undisclosed income detected so far," the CBDT said in a statement. "Investigation into the non-business investments of the dealer group and use of accommodation entries to reduce profits is also in progress," it said.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes is the administrative authority for the Income Tax department. The board claimed that the taxman has also "unearthed evidence like unaccounted stock maintained by the assessee at various places".

According to the statement, 814 kg of excess stock valued at around Rs 400 crore was identified and would be brought to tax. "The data from the system maintained by the group shows a net income of Rs 102 crore outside books for the financial year 2018-19 alone. The data for financial years 2019-20 and 2020-2021 available in the system is being culled out using forensic tools," the CBDT said.

Also, excess stock of 50 kg found in the business premises of related concerns was not seized but identified for quantification of unaccounted income, it said. The CBDT alleged that the group was "maintaining a custom-made package called Jpac to cleverly conceal the true facts of the business".

"The goods were transported by raising bills and invoices as rough estimation, which would be destroyed on delivery of goods. The data so obtained will be used to unearth the unaccounted transactions of other parties...," the statement said. It said forensic experts deployed by the I-T department are using specialised tools and culling out more data to reach a final quantification of unaccounted income.