2 agro firms disclose Rs55 crore black money in Ahmedabad

A day after income-tax (I-T) sleuths raided two agro-based companies in the city, a total of Rs55 crore unaccounted money is reported to have been unearthed on Friday. It was revealed during the operation that two chartered accountants (CA) and a company secretary (CS) have been helping the companies evade huge sums of taxes by floating companies only on paper to hide the excess money. The two groups involved in the raids have been identified as Ridhi Sidhi Gluco and Jalaram Rice Mill located at Bavla in Ahmedabad district.

According to official sources, Ridhi Sidhi Gluco has reportedly disclosed having Rs50 crore of unaccounted for money while Jalaram Rice Mill officials have confessed to having Rs5 crore of unexplained money in their business transactions. "The investigation is still going on and we are yet to check 11 lockers that have been sealed for further probing. The raids have also been conducted in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Karnataka and Uttarakhand," sources said. A total of 22 places have been covered in the raids.

Sources said that one of the companies was paying taxes only on 50% of its profits. To hide unaccounted money, the company's CAs had floated a dummy company as well as share holders on paper. I-T officials are likely to inform the Indian Chartered Accountants Institute (ICAI) about these CAs for their alleged involvement in the evasion.

On Thursday around 100 officials raided the offices of Ridhi Sidhi Gluco at Ashram Road in the city and Jalaram Rice Mill at Bavla and various other offices and residences of the owners.

Ridhi Sidhi Gluco is a company listed with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The company is one of the largest starch producers in the country while Jalaram Rice Mill, is a major exporter of basmati rice, non-basmati rice, pulses and sugar among other agro-based products.