IT Deptt raids ARCO Group

Srinagar: A search and seizure operation was conducted by the Income Tax (IT) Department on the ARCO Group on Monday and Tuesday, an official spokesman said.

An official spokesman in a statement issued here said that the raids were conducted on October 9 and 10.

He said that the ARCO Group is controlled by the prominent Anim family of Sopore including the famous businessmen Javid Ahmad Anim and Imran Latif Anim.

The official spokesman said that the business group has widespread activities in the sectors of cement, steel, glass, plyboard, construction, hotels, textiles, and healthcare.

He said that the team of officers of the Income Tax Department raided more than 40 premises of the ARCO Group across Srinagar, Sopore, Budgam, Sonmarg, Pulwama, and Delhi.

The official spokesman said that in this massive operation, over 250 investigators of the IT Department continued the raid for two days in Kashmir.

He said that the seizure of incriminating documents, diaries, and digital devices has been made by the officers on a large scale, unearthing tax evasion of more than hundreds of crores of rupees.

“Other than grossly under-reporting its business income, it has been gathered that the key persons of the group were found in possession of large amounts of black money and undisclosed properties. The group is now under the scanner of the tax administrators for suppression of vast income and wealth, with further investigation being underway,” the official spokesman said.

He said a huge evidence had been collected against many other undisclosed persons in Kashmir pertaining to enormous transactions of unaccounted cash.

The official spokesman said that the raid by the tax sleuths comes after a gap of almost a year after the action last year on the Khyber Group of the Trumboo family.

He said that it had been gathered that the scale of this operation on the ARCO Group was unprecedented across enforcement agencies, with widespread repercussions across various sectors of Kashmir.