I-T dept recovers Rs 160 crore unaccounted assets from realty firm Ashoka Buildcon

NASHIK: The Income Tax (I-T) department recovered unaccounted assets worth Rs 160 crore during its raids on the offices of Ashoka Buildcon Ltd (ABL) and the Nashik residence of company chairman Ashok Katariya between April 5 and 9.

The department collected a 30% tax (Rs 48 crore) on the unaccounted assets. It also slapped a 100% penalty on the tax evasion amount (another Rs 48 crore), which will be recovered in phases. The department has completed verification of the documents seized and bank lockers sealed during the raid.

The I-T raids were conducted by around 250 officials at 65 locations across Nashik, Mumbai, Pune and Aurangabad. In Nashik, the raids were conducted at 22 locations by 130 officials. During the raids, the I-T squads seized various documents and also sealed five bank lockers of the company - two in Pune and the remaining belonging to Katariya and other officials. It took around three weeks to verify the documents and bank lockers to find out whether they had been accounted for or not.