This is the first instance when the Delhi investigation wing of the Income Tax department targeted private benami lockers under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act was passed in 2016.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The I-T department will continue the raid for 10 more days
• Tax sleuths have seized a laptop and register from the private locker facility
• It has come to light that employers used employees as conduits to open benami lockers
• The Income Tax (I-T) Department has unearthed at least 30 benami lockers and recovered Rs 10 crore as part of an ongoing raid at a private vault in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk area.

This is the first instance when the Delhi investigation wing of the I-T department targeted private benami lockers under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act was passed in 2016.

Sources in the I-T department told news agency ANI that the amount recovered by them could go up as the raid of benami lockers are still in progress and may take 10 more days to conclude.

It has come to light that 120 out of the 300 lockers were opened till Saturday (December 1) and had a collective balance of Rs 25 crore.

Officials from the tax department were able to identify the benami lockers as they were opened under the name of previous employees, current employees or relatives of some owners of the lockers.

During the course of the investigation, it was also established that previous employers of these individuals may have been using their details to open benami accounts.

Some of the individuals found with benami lockers said they were not aware about them. However, all of these individuals had submitted documents for identification at the time of joining their previous or current employer.

Officials from the Income Tax department said firms which are suspected to be involved in hawala transactions my have opened two to three lockers in the name of their employees.

The police suspect that some employers used employee identification documents to open benami lockers.

The I-T department has also seized a laptop and register which were used to make entries for the lockers. Whoever used to come to deposit or collect cash from the locker was supposed to make entries in the registers, the I-T department said.