Income tax department strikes gold at Bhajiawala’s office

SURAT: The income tax (I-T) department seems to have struck gold during a search operation carried out at Udhna-based financier Kishore Mangal Bhajiawala. He is believed to have amassed over Rs 1,000 crore in black money.
He was a tea and ‘bhajia’ seller at Udhna some three decades ago. However, today he is a crorepati financier with huge investments in gold and silver and several properties across the city.He owns properties in the city whose market value is close to over Rs 450 crore, which include row houses, commercial complexes, flats and land. Bhajiawala’s net worth is around Rs 1,300 crore, sources said.
The I-T’s investigation wing carried out a survey operation at the office and residence of Kishore Bhajiawala in Udhna Gam and Bhimnagar in Udhna. It sealed around 27 bank accounts of Bhajiawala at Surat People’s Cooperative Bank’s Udhna branch on December 13. The I-T department recovered Rs 25 lakh in cash, out of which Rs 3 lakh was in new currency notes, 70 property documents, Rs 4.50 lakh worth of Kisan Vikas Patras (KVPs), etc.
Till Friday evening, the I-T department found property documents to the tune of Rs 400 crore and Rs 5 crore worth of jewellery, including diamond jewellery, 200 kilogram of silver, 13 kilogram of gold bars, one kilogram of diamonds, Rs 1.06 crore in new currency notes, Rs 10 lakh worth of cash in Rs 10, Rs 20 and Rs 50 denominations.
After the cash seizure on December 13, the survey operation was converted into search by the investigation wing. In the last three days of the operation, the I-T sleuths recovered property documents, agreements, details about 16 bank lockers and 27 accounts.
I-T sources said Bhajiawala’s monthly income from his financing business was Rs 5 crore and rent income totals to around Rs 3 crore per month. However, Bhajiawala was filing income tax return showing his annual income to be around Rs 1.5 crore only. Bhajiawala has financed around 13 leading realtors worth several crores of rupees in the city. The I-T department is likely to get details of the realtors from him as well.