Income Tax Dept alleges Sonu Sood and his associates evaded Rs 20 cr tax, issues statement

The Income Tax Department which conducted several search and seizure operations at various premises related to Bollywood actor Sonu Sood has found 'incriminating evidence' pertaining to tax evasion to the tune of Rs 20 crore. As per a release of the Ministry of Finance, a total of 28 premises spread over Mumbai, Lucknow, Kanpur, Jaipur, Delhi, and Gurgaon were covered in the search operation which unearthed Sonu Sood's alleged unaccounted income in the form of bogus unsecured loans and entities. 

"The main modus operandi followed by the actor had been to route his unaccounted income in the form of bogus unsecured loans from many bogus entities. Investigations so far have revealed use of twenty such entries, the providers of which,on examination, have accepted on oath to have given bogus accommodation entries. They have accepted to have issued cheques in lieu of cash," the IT Department said in an official relase.

The IT Department has revealed that there have been instances where professional receipts have been camouflaged as loans in the books of accounts for the purpose of evasion of tax. It has also revealed that these bogus loans have been used for making investments and acquiring properties. "The total amount of tax evaded unearthed so far, amounts to more than Rs. 20 crore," the IT Department stated. 

Donations collected in violation of FCRA: IT Dept

The bogus transactions date back to June 2020 when Sonu Sood incorporated a charitable foundation for various relief work. The IT Department states that the foundation had collected donations to the tune of Rs 18.94 crore from 01.04.2021 till date, out of which it had spent around Rs. 1.9 crore towards various relief work. A balance of Rs. 17 crore has been found lying unutilized. Several of these donations have also been collected from foreign entities in violation of FCRA. 

"It is seen that funds to the tune of Rs. 2.1 crore have also been raised by the Charity Foundation from overseas donors on a crowdfunding platform in violation of FCRA regulations," it said. 

Moreover, a recent joint venture with a real estate project, where Sonu Sood invested substantial funds, which have shown tax evasion and irregularities in the books of account. "Evidence of such bogus contracts found so far are to the tune of over Rs. 65 crore. Evidence of unaccounted cash expenses, unaccounted sale of scrap and digital data evidencing unaccounted cash transactions has also been found," the Income Tax Department said.

The Infrastructure Group/company is said to have entered into a dubious circular transaction to the tune of Rs. 175 crore with another company based in Jaipur. A total of 11 lockers have been placed under prohibitory order and 1.8 crores have been seized during the course of the search.