Nirmala Sitharaman honors an I-T department team for seizing Rs 352 crore in a raid

New Delhi| Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday honored a team of the Income Tax Department. This Income Tax Department team had seized the highest ever cash of Rs 352 crore in the country during a raid against a distillery group in Odisha last year.
Officers awarded ‘CBDT Certificate of Excellence’
In a special event organized on the completion of 165 years of Income Tax Department in India, the Income Tax team led by Jha and Additional Director Gurpreet Singh was awarded the ‘CBDT Certificate of Excellence’.
Rs 351.8 crore were seized in the raid which lasted for 10 days
Gurpreet Singh, a 2010 batch officer of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), played a key role in the December 6 last year raid based on ‘intelligence’ at several premises of a distillery group based in Odisha. That search operation by the Income Tax Department had lasted for 10 days. A total of Rs 351.8 crore in cash was recovered during this period which was described as ‘the largest seizure in a single operation by an agency’ in the country.
These officers were also honoured
Nirmala Sitharaman met two other members of that Income Tax Department team – Deputy Director of Income Tax H. K. Das and Income Tax Inspector P. K. Singh was also handed over the certificate. This award has been instituted for the first time by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the administrative body of the Income Tax Department. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary was also present during the event.
Nirmala Sitharaman expressed gratitude to taxpayers
On the occasion of completion of 165 years of Income Tax Department, the Union Finance Minister also expressed his gratitude to the taxpayers of the country. “I express my heartfelt gratitude to our honest taxpayers, whose welfare, development and aspirations are driving India’s economy today”, Nirmala Sitharaman said.