Ponty Chadha returns to India, 10 bank lockers sealed, jewellery worth 10 crore found

New Delhi: The Income Tax department today sealed ten bank lockers of liquor baron Ponty Chadha and claim they have seized cash and jewellery worth Rs 15 crore during searches carried out at his premises in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

"Rs 5 crore in cash and jewellery valued at about Rs 10 crore have been seized after operations were conducted at various places in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi," I-T sources said after raids at the premises of Mr Chadha and his associates.

Ten bank lockers have been sealed. However, the premises, including a mall owned by Mr Chadha in Noida, covered during the searches are free for operation by the owners, they said.

The I-T officials have also seized two laptops that have been sent for forensic examination at a department owned laboratory in the national capital.

When contacted, a spokesperson of Waves Infratech, owned by Mr Chadha, declined to get into specifics of seizures claimed to have been made by I-T and insisted that there was no wrongdoing by the Chadha group.

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"There is no income which remains undisclosed to the government authorities," the spokesperson said reiterating what was put out in a statement by the real estate group.

The I-T department has acceded a request made by Mr Chadha, who has returned after a visit to Dubai, that its operations be suspended in view of a family wedding on February 9, the sources said.

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Mr Chadha has promised to extend full cooperation to tax authorities in their probe of alleged tax evasion in his various businesses including liquor sale and real estate.

The tax department is scrutinising transaction bills claimed to be worth Rs 600 crore. They are examining over 5,000 pages of computer printed documents, papers of mining leases in U P and other investments made by Mr Chadha, the sources said.

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The tax department had begun the raids on Mr Chadha and his associates on February 1, covering 13 locations in Delhi including at the posh Sainik Farms, Lajpat Nagar, New Friends Colony while in Uttar Pradesh, I-T teams comprising 200 officials, undertook similar operations at six locations in Noida, Moradabad and state capital Lucknow.