I-T dept. has proof of TDR racket in city

PUNE: The income tax (investigation) directorate, Pune, which is currently investigating the transfer of development rights (TDRs) racket in the city, on Friday said that documents tallied with those of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and have hinted at the possible involvement of city builders in the racket.
The directorate had asked the PMC to furnish documents related to the case, so that they could be tallied with a large volume of incriminating documents it had earlier seized from a TDR dealer in the city.
IT (investigation) director A.J. Khan told TNN that the documents were still being scrutinised thoroughly, following which action will be taken against the guilty.
A prominent builder in the city has already been questioned for his alleged involvement in the TDR dealings, and the directorate officials have taken a written statement from him, according to Khan.
The case relates to a search operation carried out by sleuths of the IT directorate in the first week of September on a TDR dealer, who was found to be deflating the actual TDR rates.
While conservative estimates put the concealment/understatement of income at about Rs 10 crore, IT (investigation) director-general S.K.
Sharma had earlier told newspersons at the possibility of an alleged nexus between TDR dealers, builders and government officials.
During the search operation, the IT sleuths had recovered amassed wealth, including fixed deposit receipts (FDRs) worth over Rs 1.5 crore, and huge cash deposits in about 100 bank accounts.
While another builder questioned by the IT directorate in connection with the case has feigned ignorance, IT officials said that documents tallied with the PMC narrate a different story.
"We are still investigating the matter and will comment about the involvement only after getting circumstantial evidence," Khan said.