Dainik Bhaskar tax raid: IT department states that taxes on Rs 700 crore not paid

After conducting a raid on the Dainik Bhaskar group's offices last week, the Income Tax department has stated that the media house has not paid taxes on Rs 700 crore worth of income.

 

A press release issued by the IT department didn't name the company but stated that it carried out a search operation under section 132 of the Income - tax Act, 1961 on 22 July, on a prominent business group, which is involved in businesses in sectors that include media, power, textiles and real estate, with a group turnover of more than Rs. 6,000 crore per annum. 

 

The IT raid covered 20 residential and 12 business premises spread over nine cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Bhopal, Indore, Noida and Ahmedabad.

 

The statement from the IT department added that they found that the group has been operating several companies in the names of their employees, which have been used for booking bogus expenses and routing of funds. 

 

The IT department also said that several of the employees, whose names were used as shareholders and directors, have admitted that they were not aware of such companies and had given their aadhaar card and digital signature to the employer in good faith. Some were found to be relatives, who had willingly and knowingly signed the papers but had no knowledge or control of the business activities of the companies, in which they were supposed to be directors and shareholders.

 

Following the raid on 22 July, the group had released a video statement through which it explained that the raid had taken place after its journalists tried revealing the true number of deaths caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in the country. The video claimed that the Government is afraid of true journalism.

 

The full statement from the IT department can be found here.