Rs1,200 crore ‘black’ money found in frozen demat accounts

The income tax department has found over Rs1,200 crore lying unaccounted in lakhs of frozen demat accounts across the country, and has sought a detailed probe on the possibility of their use for illegal transactions and tax evasion.

The department has sent the reports of such accounts to the respective chief commissioners of income tax in various parts of the country to check the veracity of such accounts in their regions, PTI reported quoting official sources.

More than 6.5 lakh frozen demat accounts were investigated by the department in December last year on the suspicion of huge evasion of taxes and 'benami' transactions.

The CCITs have been asked to serve notices to all the account holders and report unclaimed accounts so that such accounts can be seized.

All the I-T Commissioners have also been asked to prepare ''detailed reports'' on the transactions of these accounts.

The report says the distinction between claimed and unclaimed accounts will help the authorities to proceed with further probe or seizure procedures respectively, as these accounts could lead to links to further cases of tax evasions and unreported economic transactions.