An Unexpected Scene
You must be wondering why there are 20 wedding cars featured in a video about an income-tax raid. But imagine, not just 20, 50, or 100—actually 120 wedding cars were involved in an income-tax raid. In the state of Maharashtra, about 400 kilometers from Mumbai lies Jalna. In Jalna, 260 income-tax officers conducted a raid, arriving in 120 wedding cars and seizing assets worth 390 crore rupees.
Setting the Stage
Let’s dive into the entire story in five minutes, including a shocking twist at the end involving a farmhouse. But, as always, let’s start from the beginning. The raid uncovered 58 crore rupees in cash, 32 kilograms of gold, boxes full of jewels and diamonds, and so much cash that even the tax authorities were stunned.
Why Jalna?
Jalna is a small district in Maharashtra. It’s famous for its steel industry, often called the steel capital of Maharashtra. Two prominent steel companies in Jalna are SRJ PT Steels and Kalika Steels. Just days before the raid, the income-tax department and the GST Council received a tip that both companies were evading taxes.
The Tip-Off and Plan
A simple tip revealed a massive tax evasion of 1220 crore. Tax evasion means dodging taxes. The authorities wasted no time and alerted the Nasik branch, which then planned raids on SRJ PT Steels and Kalika Steels. Because the amount involved was so huge, 260 officers were summoned for the operation. But with Jalna being such a small town, too many officers arriving suddenly would alert the business groups and potentially ruin the raid.
Operation “Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge”
To solve this, the officers devised a Bollywood-style plan, nicknamed “Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge.” Before executing the plan, some officers surveyed the businesses on August 2, 2022. On August 3, 2022, they rented 120 cars, decorated like wedding vehicles with “Rahul weds Anjali” and “Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge” stickers, creating the illusion of a wedding procession. Officers even dressed as wedding guests, and one was the groom, so no one would suspect a thing as they entered Jalna.
The Raid
Once inside, teams split up and went to different locations. Searches were conducted at the company owners’ homes, factories, and offices. At the homes, nothing major was found; however, at the factories, discrepancies in raw material stocks and fraudulent accounting entries came to light. The offices yielded information regarding GST fraud. As the day progressed, the expected haul was not materializing, and the officers were losing confidence.
The Farmhouse Twist
Then, documents from SRJ PT Steels kept mentioning a particular farmhouse. It’s important to note, this farmhouse didn’t belong to the steel company owners but rather to private financier Pradeep Bora, who assisted in their illicit activities. When officers reached the farmhouse, they initially found nothing. But after breaking down a wall, they discovered a secret room, filled with rolled-up mattresses and cupboards. Inside the mattresses were thousands of bundles of 500-rupee notes, and the cupboards gleamed with gold jewelry, coins, bars, and diamonds.
Counting the Loot
With so much cash, hand-counting was impossible. All the money was bagged and sent to a nearby SBI bank. There, counting started at 11:00 AM and continued until 1:00 AM the next day—about 13 hours in total. The final tally came to 58 crore in cash, 32 kilograms of gold, 14 crore worth of diamonds, and 300 crore in undisclosed property. In total, 390 crore worth of assets were seized in what is considered India’s craziest income-tax raid.
