The Income Tax department has unearthed Rs 5 crore cash and jewellery worth Rs 3 crore in searches conducted on the properties of a prominent educational group in Chennai. The department has also estimated the undisclosed income of the group to be around Rs 350 crore.
Though the official press release did not mention the name of the group, reports confirmed that the assessee was Jeppiaar group.
Officials of the Income Tax department had conducted searches on 32 places in Chennai and other areas belonging to the Jeppiaar group on November 7. “The institutes run by the group include a number of engineering colleges, polytechnic institutes, dental college, nursing colleges, hospitals and schools. The group has interests in other sectors like fishing harbour, cement, milk, bottled water and iron and steel etc,” read the press release.
The searches were conducted based on reports of unaccounted cash in the assessee’s premises from fees and donations collected in cash from students and patrons. “During the search proceedings, evidence of suppression of fee receipts has been found,” the statement said, adding that it has also been found that the group has been diverting funds elsewhere for purposes not covered under the scope of the Trust. The Income Tax officials have also discovered unexplained cash debits, unrecorded cash expenditure, suppression of sale receipts in fishing harbour, loans advanced in cash, non-disclosure of income from sale of property during the search.
Stating that the searches have been temporarily concluded, the Income Tax department mentioned that investigation into the irregularities found is in progress.
The Jeppiaar Remibai Educational Trust runs many educational institutions in and around Chennai like the Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology which runs undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in several arts, science, law, engineering and dental surgery courses. Apart from Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, the Jeppiaar Trust also runs Jeppiaar Institute of Technology, Jeppiaar Mamallan Engineering College etc.