More than seven months after Sheikh Imran, Deputy Mayor, Srinagar, was slapped with the recovery notice by the Jammu & Kashmir Bank to settle his outstanding loans to the tune of Rs 125 crore, Income Tax authorities on Tuesday swooped down on his private offices to probe alleged irregularities committed by the Kehwah group.
According to official sources, “around 10 business premises were raided by the IT authorities, eight in Srinagar and one each in Delhi and Bengaluru on Tuesday”.
The assessee group is engaged in the business of transportation, manufacturing of silk yarn, hospitality, retail trading of Kashmir Arts & Crafts etc. Official sources said, Deputy Mayor Sheikh Imran’s private offices in Sangarmal Shopping, Bohri Kadal in downtown and Nowgam were raided by the officials of the income tax department and confiscated some documents .
The raids continued for about 5-6 hours.
The action follows close on the heels of recent crack down by the Anti-Corruption Bureau inside J&K Bank headquarters after Chairman cum Managing Director, Parvez Ahmed was removed from the post.
The recovery notices were earlier served to Sheikh Imran on Oct 31, 2018 to clear the outstanding amount of Rs 125.07 crore.
Official sources said, none of the members of the group were filing their Income Tax returns.
Close scrutiny of office records revealed, “as a One Time Settlement, the group has got their loans of Rs 170 crore with J&K Bank restructured for a sum of Rs 77 crore, out of which, payment of only Rs 50.34 crore to the J&K Bank has been made so far and balance of Rs 27.66 crore is yet to be paid”.
However, during the day long search, evidence has been detected indicating that the One Time Settlement of the loan from J&K Bank has been done through the active connivance of a senior J&K Bank officer who was receiving several out of turn promotions. Furthermore, evidence has also been unearthed indicating that the repayment of Rs 50.34 crore pertaining to the said loan has been green fielded by the J&K Bank by granting loan of similar amount to an associate who has confessed to his role in layering the entire transaction.
According to official sources, “during the search, incriminating evidence has also been found relating to Sale of undisclosed property amounting to Rs 22 crore, Agreement to sell Transport business for Rs 9.10 crore, Undisclosed profit of Rs 15-20 crore on account of sale of Cold Storage plant at Lassipora”.
“The cost of this project was found to have been inflated to Rs 47 crore instead of the actual cost of Rs 17 crore, for claiming more subsidy from the Government by raising inflated and bogus bills”,official sources claimed.
The loan for this project was taken from J&K Bank. Further, IT authorities also detected Undisclosed properties at Sonmarg (Rs 2.68 crore), Pahalgam (Rs 3.55 crore) and Bangalore (Rs 1.00 crore). One shop in partnership in Delhi purchased for Rs 1.02 crore.
During the search, digital evidence found has been seized, analysis of which is in progress.
In Srinagar, Deputy Mayor Sheikh Imran said that he will cooperate with the department in its investigation.
“I am fully supportive of all investigations to ensure transparency and adherence to income tax laws. I extend my full cooperation to the Income Tax Department. I’m a law abiding businessman and will continue to ensure the laws are upheld,” Imran said.
