Over 200 crore unearthed after 48-hour-long raid by the I-T department in credit cooperative in Bengaluru

Over Rs 200 crore has been unearthed after a 48-hour-long raid by the Income Tax department at a Credit Co-operative Society in Bengaluru. The operation, which concluded in the early hours of Republic Day, revealed that the society had mobilised this amount from a "claimed" 30,000 members and depositors.The society, which has five branches across Bengaluru, allegedly turned depositors into members of the society first, with an admission fee."It was noticed that whoever approached the organization for making the deposits, was first made a member of the society for a nominal admission fee. Subsequently, members could make time deposits, purchase cash certificate, operate the savings account, among others," said the I-T department report.In a tie-up with a nationalised bank, the members could also do electronic fund transfers and issue bearer cheques.However, the organisation did not accept PAN numbers of depositors or comply with statutory regulations. It did not even deduct TDS on interest payments to account holders.In addition to such irregularities, it was also found during the raid that substantial amount of cash deposits and loan repayments were made to the society after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the withdrawal of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 8 last year."The department is verifying such deposits. Preliminary investigations indicate that a substantial part of the deposits are from undisclosed sources," the report said.

Further investigation involves probing into the organisation's CEO's alleged involvement in running an unregistered chit fund with the help of family members.