LUCKNOW, Aug. 24 -- In a major crackdown on tax evasion carried out through the non-profit sector, the Income Tax Investigation Unit, Agra, initiated searches at more than 30 locations spanning six states, including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh since August 19, senior Income Tax officials confirmed on Saturday. The officials said the search under the direction of the principal director of Income Tax (Investigation), Kanpur, is still ongoing and major findings in respect of tax evasion worth several crores are expected. A senior Income Tax official said the searches were conducted over concerns about the misuse of CSR (corporate social responsibility) donations made under Section 135 of Companies Act to NGOs. "While busting the entire complex network, the Income Tax investigation officers have found another piece of evidence which suggests bogus remittances of more than 10,000 crore outside of the country to foreign countries like Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, China etc," he said. He stated that the searches were conducted on various Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs), including Jan Jagriti Sevarth Sansthan (Mathura), Dr Brajmohan Sapoot Kala Sanskriti Seva Sansthan (Bhilwara, Rajasthan) and Raginiben Bipinchandra Sevakarya Trust (Ahmedabad, Gujarat). The official said the searches revealed that these three trusts were involved in the siphoning off and misuse of more than Rs 800 crores worth of CSR donations. "Although these organisations claimed to operate in sectors of education, health, employment, and social welfare, search investigations revealed that these trusts were not involved in any charitable activities," he stated. "The investigation has found that not a single penny has been invested in any kind of social work," the official added. The official said search operations unearthed a complex network of several bogus and shell companies, managed by a group of chartered accountants and controllers of these trusts, which facilitated the diversion of several crores of CSR funds to foreign jurisdictions like the UAE, Hong Kong, Singapore and China. He shared that India has a large non-profit sector, with more than three million NPOs. Government funds and requirements on certain types of companies to spend a proportion of their profits on corporate social responsibility, has provided substantial funds to the sector every year. He said money laundering risks within the NPO sector have also been tied to abuses of Section 135 of the Companies Act. "One notable concern is the misuse of CSR contributions, where several companies have been found channeling their mandatory CSR funds into fake trusts. These trusts then covertly reclaim the funds through cash withdrawals or complex financial transactions," he explained. In light of this, the recent massive crackdown by the Agra Investigation Wing of Income Tax Department on NPOs is significant as it has unearthed substantial incriminating evidences against various corporate entities of country, trusts, shell entities, chartered accountants and diamond merchants who have been found to be involved in this elaborate tax evasion scheme....