Jaipur, Rajasthan – The Income Tax Department has raided numerous wedding planners in Jaipur as part of a vigorous crackdown on unaccounted financial transactions, hence unearthing a complicated network of hawala and cryptocurrency dealings. These raids lasted the whole of last week and resulted in the confiscation of more than Rs. 20 crores in cash and jewellery, in addition to the freezing of three cryptocurrency wallets.
The operations targeted almost twenty wedding planners in the city reputed for their catering for the grandest weddings in India. The investigation so far revealed that these planners converted their fees received in cash from clients into digital assets using USDT and Bitcoin and bypassed the banking channels along with taxation related to the business. The method also involved hawala, which is a very traditionally popular term for routing unaccounted black money.
Jaipur Wedding Planners Raided Big Crypto Currency Fraud
Officials claim it was a new approach to cover financial tracks, causing some concern regarding the digital currency regulation in India. The cash and jewelry seized account for hardly any of the actual transactions that could have been unreported, and the nexus could therefore extend to other major cities such as Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Delhi.
The Income Tax Department may have thus exposed one of the more entrenched malpractices in the wedding business, where extravagant celebrations frequently cause violations of financial norms. The officials are of the opinion that this could only be a tip of the iceberg and that there are indications to probe in a more wide-ranging manner into similar practices among others in different sectors.
An important discussion on introducing stringent regulations on cryptocurrency transactions and overseeing cash-intensive businesses to prevent tax evasion arises from the continued actions against it. Further details, during the progress of the investigation, will be revealed regarding this complex interrelated network concerning wedding extravagance and shady financial practices.
