PALAKKAD: Income-Tax officials from Kochi directorate on Saturday conducted inspection at the office of the trust that owns self-financing Karuna Medical College at Palakkad It was learnt from reliable sources close to I-T department that an unaccounted cash of Rs 70 lakh, which includes Rs 19 lakh in new Rs 2,000 notes, was seized during the raids . I-T officials are further inquiring into how the trust managed to get so many Rs 2,000 notes and whether they were sourced with the help of banks. The medical college had been facing allegations that it took unauthorised donations for admission to medical seats recently.
Assessing officers from I-T will be issuing the tax and penalty which need to be paid by the trust for the seized money. Meanwhile, the Youth Congress in Palakkad has demanded that the I-T department officially announce details of the raids which were conducted on doctors, lawyers and businessmen in the district in November after demonetisation was announced. “We are asking the I-T department whether they found any unaccounted money during raids. If such basic details are not revealed, the raids itself will be seen as a ploy to whiten the money with the assistance of I-T officials,” Boban Muttumanthan, YC president of Palakkad Assembly segment told this newspaper.
I-T officials had confirmed that the Rs 1.35 crore in scrapped currency which was remitted soon after demonetisation at Thrissur District Marketing and Processing Co-op Society Ltd situated in TUDA building at Sakthan Nagar by two businessmen was unaccounted money. I-T officials have asked the two businessmen to avail the recently announced amnesty scheme of the Union government to declare their unaccounted money or face legal action.
