Income Tax officials raid BCCI HQ, survey goes on till midnight

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) headquarters at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai was recently ransacked by the Income Tax department as they carried out a 15-hour long raid surveying documents, leaving the premises well after midnight.

The survey culminated with notices served to BCCI Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rahul Johri and Chief Finance Officer (CFO) Santosh Rangnekar. Both Johri and Rangnekar have now been asked to appear for personal hearings at the I-T department’s Charni Road office at 3 pm on Monday.

The search was related to the TDS deductions and statements the BCCI has been submitting to the department. The government officials entered BCCI HQ around 11 am on January 4 as the intense scrutinizing of documents went on till 2.30 am on January 5.

Although initially, five or six officials went into Cricket Centre, as the day progressed, a dozen or so officials joined the first batch. There was no immediate information on whether the investigators had taken any documents with them when they left.

BCCI CFO leaves office during survey

The episode raises questions on the role of Rangnekar, the newly appointed BCCI CFO, who excused himself in the evening while the survey was on. He apparently had gone to a Bandra hotel to attend the IPL ‘Retention’ programme. He returned to the office around 9 pm after the I-T officials asked him to come back.

Speaking to Mirror, a senior BCCI official said, “It was shocking to note that the CFO left the office, leaving the responsibility of handling the I-T officials in the hands of his staff. If he had gone to attend the IPL event, well, he had no role there.”

BCCI will have to pay INR 19 crores

Sources privy to the developments have also revealed that the the board has been asked to make an immediate payment of INR Rs 19 crores to avoid being an “assessee in default”, in compliance with provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961. But it is not clear if this payment demand relates to the January 4 and 5 survey.