Chandigarh, August 21
Close on the heels of the Punjab and Haryana High court putting a spanner in Haryana government’s proposal to give plots to MLAs and MPs, the Punjab legislators’ dreams to rake in the moolah from the proposed Tata Housing Development Company (THDC) project could shatter with the income tax department initiating a probe into it.
Sleuths of Income Tax department today swooped on Hash Builders Pvt Ltd in Sector 40 here and three other related business houses, after preliminary investigations revealed that instead of the TATA’s — which bought about 22 acres of land belonging to Punjab MLAs Housing Society in Kansal for a whopping Rs 106 crore — it was this company that was paying the money to the society.
As per the deal between the Punjab MLAs Housing Society and THDC, each MLA was to get Rs 82.5 lakhs in cash and a four-bedroom flat in what was touted as Punjab’s tallest housing project.
Sources in the I-T department also revealed that THDC had got into similar deal with another
society — Defence Services Society — also in Kansal, where the cash payment to the societies in lieu of their land was to the tune of Rs 125 crore plus a flat for each member. Several “big shots”, including bureaucrats and politicians, are reportedly associated with this society too.
Officials said the department’s investigations had revealed that it was not the THDC but Hash Builders that was making payments running into crores of rupees to the two societies. While the exact amount of the payments made so far was not known, sources said around 40 to 50 per cent of the agreed amounts had been already disbursed.
Officials maintained that the raids conducted today were to ascertain the “source” from where Hash Builders had got so much of money and to also look into their tax liabilities. Raids were also conducted at RNC India Infrastructure Ltd Sector 17 and Billus and Infrastructure and Development Pvt Ltd and Shri Krishna Rural Welfare Society in Kansal. The CEO of Hash Builders is directly associated with the other three companies also, claimed officials.
While officials refused to comment on the investigations, they claimed to have seized several incriminating documents and materials related to the whopping financial transactions. Officials admitted that they would also look into the tax liabilities of these societies later. When contacted, additional joint commissioner, Mohali, Manjit Singh, said, “It’s a complicated case so the investigations too will be complicated.”
