I-T department seizes land registration records worth over Rs 150 crore in Rajasthan border districts
Jaipur
The Income Tax Department has intensified its crackdown on suspected benami transactions, illegal funding, and unaccounted money in Rajasthan’s border districts, seizing land registration records worth more than Rs 150 crore from sub-registrar offices in Jaisalmer and Sri Ganganagar.
The operation was carried out by the Department’s Intelligence and Criminal Investigation (I&CI) Wing following directions to strengthen scrutiny of suspicious land transactions in border areas. The action has triggered concern among builders, investors, and property dealers operating in the region. In Jaisalmer, investigators identified 170 land registration files with significant irregularities during a two-day inspection.
According to officials, many of these registrations lacked mandatory Permanent Account Number (PAN) details of buyers despite involving high-value land transactions. The registrations reportedly ranged from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 50 lakh, with several payments allegedly made entirely in cash rather than through banking channels. Authorities suspect suspicious transactions exceeding Rs 80 crore in the district. A detailed report has been prepared and will be submitted to the Jaipur headquarters for further investigation.
The Jaisalmer operation was conducted by a team comprising Assistant Director Laxmi Narayan Meena, Income Tax Officers Mahesh Kulhari and Anil Bhambhani, and Inspectors Paras Prakash and Abhinash Kumar. In Sri Ganganagar, a nine-member special team from Jaipur inspected the Sub-Registrar office and seized records relating to major property registrations carried out between April 1, 2024, and March 31, 2026. The probe follows an earlier investigation into the Anupgarh Sub-Registrar office, where suspected irregularities involving nearly Rs 75 crore worth of property registrations were detected.
The Sri Ganganagar team was led by Income Tax Officer Sumit Tiwari and included Rajesh Kumar Chaudhary, Satyendra Sharma, Pradeep, Vinod Godara, Gayatri, Sandeep Dhalia, Yogesh Dhaka, Pankaj Raheja, and Abdul Rahman. Officials have prepared a detailed digital database of the registrations and will seek original records from the DIG (Stamps) for further verification. The Income Tax Department will scrutinise transactions involving cash payments exceeding Rs 2 lakh, particularly cases where mandatory PAN details or other supporting documents are missing. Where irregularities are established, the department may issue show-cause notices and initiate proceedings under the Income Tax Act. Officials indicated that if investigations establish violations of tax laws and taxpayers fail to provide satisfactory explanations for the source of funds, authorities may recover tax, penalties, and applicable interest in accordance with the provisions of the Income Tax Act.
The final tax liability will depend on the facts of each case. The latest action forms part of a broader effort to monitor land transactions in Rajasthan’s border districts, including Jaisalmer, Sri Ganganagar, Barmer, and Bikaner, where land prices have risen sharply in recent years. Security and financial agencies are examining whether unaccounted money or funds from suspicious sources are being invested in land purchases in these strategically sensitive areas. Earlier, the Income Tax Department had also conducted similar confidential verification exercises in Barmer and Bikaner as part of its ongoing surveillance of high-value property transactions in border regions. (IANS)
