Rs 900 crore Benami properties attached in Rajasthan in 16 months

JAIPUR: A total of 201 benami properties including bank accounts worth Rs 921-cr, claimed to be the biggest haul in the country, were attached by the income tax department under Benami Transaction (prohibition) Amendment Act 2016 in Rajasthan till March 31 this year.

“So far, 176 benami properties and 25 bank accounts were attached till March after the amended Benami Transaction (prohibition) Amendment Act came into force in November 2016,” said an official on the condition of anonymity.

He added that notices have been issued in cases related to five benami properties in the current financial year.

He further said, “An important discovery of the department is that many realty developers and companies are using their Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe employees as benami owners.” As there is restriction in Rajasthan on purchasing land owned by SC/STs by other communities, these realty developers found a way out by using their SC/ST employees as proxies and registering the property in their name, he added.

A major realty developer was found to be using this route liberally. The realtor registered land worth several hundred crores of rupees in the name of his employees belonging to SC/ST.

Firm had put ₹2.1cr in a/cs of employees
The employees then transfered the land by power of attorney.

A company in Jodhpur deposited Rs 2.12 crore in the accounts of his four employees and two cousins post demonetization on December 1, 2017. “Several such cases have been unearthed by I-T sleuths during surveys,” the official said. He further explained that once a property is identified as ‘benami’, a show-cause notice is issued to the benami owner (in whose name the property is registered) followed by provisional attachment if reply to notice is not satisfactory. The department must take a decision on the provisionally attached property within 90 days. It must either attach the property or let it off depending on explanation by benami owner. Sleuths of I-T department said they have been empowered by the amended sections of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016, and the haul is a fallout of this.