The biggest income tax raid in India's history occurred in December 2023 in Odisha, resulting in the seizure of over ₹351 crore in unaccounted cash. The raid was conducted against Boudh Distilleries Pvt Ltd, an alcohol manufacturing group.
Key details of the historic raid:
Target: The Income Tax Department conducted simultaneous searches across multiple locations connected to the distillery group in Odisha, Jharkhand, and West Bengal.
Scale of operation: The cash haul was so massive that it took 10 days and 36 note-counting machines to process the currency. Bank staff were brought in to assist with the counting.
Location of cash: Much of the cash, around ₹329 crore, was recovered from obscure, dilapidated buildings and hidden chambers in small towns in Odisha's Balangir and Sambalpur districts.
Recognition: In August 2024, the Central Government honored the team of Income Tax officers responsible for the operation for their efforts in the country's largest cash seizure.
New Delhi: Unaccounted cash of more than Rs 351 crore and jewellery worth Rs 2.80 crore were seized after the Income Tax department conducted searches against a distillery group based in Odisha recently, the CBDT said on Thursday. The business of the group is controlled by a family based in Ranchi in Jharkhand and one of the family members is a "politically exposed person", the Board said in a statement, without taking any name.
Official sources confirmed that the action was linked to the December 6 searches launched at more than 30 premises in Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal against the Boudh Distillery Group, promoted by the family of Congress Rajya Sabha MP Dhiraj Prasad Sahu.
"Preliminary analysis of seized evidence reveals records of unaccounted sales of country liquor, systematic details of undisclosed cash receipts and ..