The Income Tax Department has detected unaccounted income of Rs 200 crore after it recently raided two Kerala-based quarry operators, the Central Board of Direct Taxes said on Monday, January 10. The searches on the unidentified groups were carried out on January 5 and 35 premises located in Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad and Kannur were covered. A parallel set of books of account, recording entries of actual sales and receipt of cash, was seized during the raids, it said.

The quarry operators are "indulging in large-scale suppression of sales made in cash including the fact that these transactions are not recorded in the regular books of account of the group", the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement.

"The correlation of this evidence also indicates that unaccounted cash so generated is systematically invested in the acquisition of immovable properties, used for the business of cash loans, and un-recorded capital investments in other businesses," it said.

Evidence of cash payment for the purchase of properties and substantial cash deposits in undisclosed bank accounts has been found, the CBDT statement said.

"The assessees of the group have been found to have sold immovable properties without duly accounting for the capital gains arising from such transactions," the policy-making body for the tax department said. So far, it said, unaccounted income to the tune of Rs 200 crore has been detected and Rs 2.30 crore in cash has been seized, the CBDT said.