The Income-Tax Department has detected unaccounted income of over ₹100 crore during the searches on 20 premises linked to a prominent group engaged in the manufacture of chemicals and development of real estate.

The searches have been carried out in Vapi and Sarigam in Gujarat, Silvassa in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Mumbai.

“A large number of incriminating evidence in the form of documents, diary notes and digital data showing earning of huge unaccounted income by the group and its investment in assets have been found and seized,” the I-T Department said, adding that the documents clearly indicated evasion of taxable income.

The group allegedly adopted various modus operandi such as suppression of production, use of bogus purchase invoices without actual delivery of the goods to inflate purchases, availing of bogus Goods and Services Tax credit and claim of bogus commission expenses. “The assessee group has also received on-money in immovable property transactions. All these have resulted into generation of unaccounted cash,” it said.

Papers about cash transactions pertaining to investment in immovable properties and cash loans were also seized, apart from ₹2.50 crore in cash jewellery worth ₹1 crore, during the searches. Sixteen bank lockers were put under restraint for further examination of their contents.