Rs 125cr found in Ponty Chadha's Noida mall

[Sir john]

Income tax (I-T) officials on Wednesday recovered more than Rs 125 crore in cash in the basement of the Centrestage Mall in Noida owned by the UP liquor baron, Gurdeep Singh Chadha, better known as Ponty. Earlier, on suspicion of alleged tax evasion by Chadha and the group of companies he runs, the I-T department scoured his 25 offices and residences across Delhi, Noida, Lucknow and Moradabad. Premises of his associates Lalit Kapoor and Gurjeet Kochhar were also searched. WhatÃÔ more, I-T officials are working on leads that funds from West Asia may have flowed through the hawala route into ChadhaÃÔ businesses that have now been consolidated under an umbrella entity, Wave Inc. The rise of ChadhaÃÔ business empire, whose interests spread across liquor, sugar mills, multiplexes and malls, distribution rights of Bollywood movies and construction, has been significant during the last three years. HT could not contact Chadha as he is believed to be in Dubai. Phone calls to his residence also went unattended, while his mobile phone was switched off. I-T department sources told HT another Rs 38.75 crore was recovered from the premises of one of his relatives. ŪtÃÔ too early to say anything on the exact quantum of cash found, but the officials are also looking into the books recovered from various locations, an I-T official said. Sources in Lucknow quote the liquor baronÃÔ adversaries questioning the Mayawati governmentÃÔ decision to hand over the wholesale end and retailing in some districts of the Rs 6,000-crore liquor trade in UP to a Chadha company. Anil Agarwal, acting president of the Lucknow Sharaab Association and media chief of UP Sharaab Association, said, űonty Chadha has monopolised the liquor business. The wholesale business used to be auctioned through a lottery system during the previous regime and there used to be 25 to 30 wholesalers in the state. Chadha started his liquor business in Punjab where he was believed to be close to the Congress government, but his business expanded manifold in UP. In 2010, he bagged five of the 11 sick sugar mills sold by the UP government.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Rs-100-crore-seized-from-Ponty-Chadha-s-Noida-mall/Article1-805303.aspx

[Sir john]

Ponty Chadha denies seizure of Rs 100 cr from mall

Liquor baron Ponty Chadha today refuted reports that cash to the tune of Rs 100 crore has been seized from a mall owned by him in Noida near here during searches carried out by the Income Tax officials. In a statement, Wave Infratech owned by him said widespread rumours and wrong information have been circulated to tarnish the image of the group with "malafide intention". Denying allegations of tax evasion, it said Chadha's group of companies have been regularly paying taxes and meeting other statutory requirements. "The activities of the group relate purely to business and none of the companies/concerns have any affiliation or association with any political person or party," the statement said. It said Income Tax officials, who visited the basement floor of Centre Stage Mall, did not find any cash from a safe lying there, contrary to reports that Rs 100 crore or about have been found and seized from the safe. "There is no income which remains undisclosed to the government authorities," it said adding that the Chadha Group was extending full cooperation and assistance to the IT officials. Authorities raid office of UP liquor baron Ponty Chadha Authorities raided the office of liquor baron Ponty Chaddha here and recovered firearms, a safe and two machines used for counting notes. The raid was carried out on the directives of district magistrate Raj Shekhar last night at the Vivekabad colony office of Chaddha, official sources said. One Sukhdev Singh, who was present there, said that the key of the recovered safe was with the manager, the sources said adding that eight rifles and two machines used for counting votes were recovered from the premises. The raiding team visited the office again this morning and sealed the safe which was found to be having currency notes and took Singh in custody. The Income Tax department on Wednesday raided Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s favourite businessman, carrying out simultaneous searches at 19 of his premises in the state and Delhi. The raids, in Lucknow, Moradabad and Noida among other places in UP, and on his farmhouse-home in Delhi's Chhattarpur and premises in Lajpat Nagar, began at 10.30 am and were ongoing till late on Wednesday night. I-T officials said teams had been sent to Chandigarh and Punjab, where Chadha has extensive liquor and realty businesses. The action against Chadha, the first by a central agency, comes just a week before the first phase of polling in UP, and ahead of his daughter’s wedding, planned at the Chhattarpur farmhouse on February 9 and 10.

[NeutralCat]

Does corruption ever end in India? Every day there is a new scam, it's very sad, if India is not careful we could also end up missing out on a lot of FDI.