Sitharaman awards I-T team that made highest-ever cash seizure in India

New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday felicitated an Income Tax Department team that made the highest-ever cash seizure of about Rs 352 crore in the country during raids against a distillery group in Odisha in 2023.

Sithraman handed over the 'CBDT Certificate of Excellence' to the I-T team led by Principal Director of Income Tax investigation, Bhubaneswar, S K Jha and Additional Director of I-T Gurpreet Singh during an event held here to mark 165 years of income tax in India.

Singh, a 2010 batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, was instrumental in launching the raids based on "actionable intelligence" on December 6 last year at multiple premises of an Odisha-based distillery group.

The searches went on for 10 days leading to the recovery of a total of Rs 351.8 crore in cash which was categorised as the "highest-ever seizure of currency by an agency in a single operation" in the country.

The minister, along with Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, also handed over the certificates to two other team members of the I-T team -- Deputy Director of I-T H K Das and Income Tax Inspector P K Singh -- during the event held at the Vigyan Bhawan here.

The award has been instituted by the central board of direct taxes, the administrative body for the I-T department, for the first time. PTI NES RHL