I-T dept carries out raids in J&K Bank case

The Income Tax Department on Wednesday carried out raids in Jammu and Kashmir as part of ongoing investigations into the alleged fraud in the J&K bank and found that loans worth ₹274 crore were disbursed in violation of the norms. The IT team also seized unaccounted jewelry and undisclosed cash of ₹1.28 crore.

After the former chairman of the bank was sacked by the governor in June, the bank corporate headquarters was raided by the Anti Corruption Bureau and several important documents were seized which led to further investigations into irregularities and investigations by the IT department and ACB.

The ACB has lodged several cases against bank officials and those who have defaulted money.

Surabhi Ahluwalia, Commissioner of Income Tax and official spokesperson, CBDT said that IT has been pursuing leads found in the actions taken against the J&K Bank and its former chairman.

“A search and seizure operation has been conducted on a group that is in the business of providing security to business establishments and prominent individuals, as well as in running hotels in the state and other parts of the country,” Ahluwalia said.

The spokesperson said that the nexus between bank officials and the promoters of the establishment has surfaced which also has established creating fake Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) with the subsequent diversion of the already disbursed loan amount.

“The search team has revealed an apparent siphoning of loans obtained from various public sector banks of more than ₹74 crore.

“Digital and documentary evidence found during search also clearly, reflect machinations of the bank officials in violating prudence norms as well as rules of business to safeguard the banks’ interest in the grant of loans that exceed ₹200 crore. These loans have subsequently become NPAs,” the spokesperson said.

Adding that the search action revealed concrete leads of round tripping of more than ₹125 crore by the promoters of the group.

“The money trail of round-tripping suggests the use of suspect entities, which have served as a conduit to bring back ₹125 crore as unsecured loans in the hands of the promoter family and its close associates.”