100cr income tax seizure from coal dealer

Income tax officials have seized Rs 100 crore deposited in 13 different accounts of Ana branch of Bank of India at Jharia after searches at the residences of contractor and coal dealer Lal Babu Singh, alias Lal Bahadur Singh, concluded at the Shimla Bahal area on Thursday morning. 

The income tax department on Wednesday had recovered Rs 70 crore cash from the residence of the coal businessman. A team of 30 officials led by income tax additional director Sanjay Kumar Srivastva had raided the coal dealer's residence on Wednesday afternoon. The I-T officials here claimed that it was the biggest ever seizure in a single raid in the country. Srivastava, who was present at the palatial house of Singh, told reporters on Thursday: "The result was beyond our expectations. We were getting reports about the money being deposited in the bank without PAN numbers. It is much more than we expected." The I-T officials raided the residence of Singh's driver and also his chartered accountant, D N Sinha, at Housing Colony here. Singh used to deposit money in the name of Bharat Singh and Rambir Singh, too. 

They are also investigating into charges that Singh was depositing the money on behalf of some senior officials of Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) and also some leading politicians of the coal belt. Singh hails from a village in Balia district of Uttar Pradesh, which was also the home of once upon a time coal mafia Suryadeo Singh. Singh's brother, Shatrughan Singh, said his brother was innocent and the rivals have instigated the I-T to raid his office. "Everything is fair in the business," said Shatughan. I-T officials got information that Singh had given Rs 5 lakh to a BCCL general manager for offering bribe to a CBI inspector of Dhanbad, who had conducted raids in Kustore mines area to probe charges of overreporting of coal stock. 

The GM was later arrested by the CBI. Singh, operating in the same Kustore area as contractor of coal dealer, became a billionare in 12 years. His father was a clerk in the coal company and Singh started his career as a small contractor for supply of labour in BCCL. 

I-T officials found 13 accounts in the BoI branch at Ana and claimed there were instances when huge cash of Rs 35 to 40 lakh were deposited on a single day in these accounts. Money was deposited in these accounts without mandatory PAN. All accounts have been sealed and the cash was seized. I-T officials are looking into the investments in real estates made by Singh family. The entire operation was done by the I-T officials who came from Patna, Ranchi and also some from Dhanbad. (Times of India(