New Delhi, Jan 10 : In yet another crackdown on alleged tax evasion, the Income Tax (I-T) department on Monday said it searched three firms engaged in construction activities in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and claimed to have detected unaccounted cash dealings of Rs 800 crore.

The operation last week covered more than two dozen premises across Kurnool, Ananthapur, Kadapa, Nandyal and Bellary among other towns.

“So far, the search action has led to the seizure of unaccounted cash of Rs 1.64 crore. The search has resulted in the detection of unaccounted cash transactions to the tune of Rs 800 crore. Further investigations are in progress,” I-T department said in a statement.

The department said that during the course of the search operations, several incriminating documents, such as handwritten books, agreements, etc. were found and seized.

Digital data has also been seized from a specialized software application as well as from other electronic gadgets.

“It has been found in the case of one of the assessee groups that it has been using a software which has been systematically modified to eliminate the unaccounted cash element of the consideration received and to record in the regular books of account the sale consideration that matches with registered sale price,” the statement said.

These groups have been found to be accepting cash over and above the registered value of the properties. Such unaccounted cash is used for payments of on-money towards the purchase of lands and incurring other expenditure, it further said.(UNI)