Wednesday, July 20 2005 19:14 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Pune: Over 30 educational institutions in several parts of Maharashtra and some business units belonging to their Trustees were today (July 20, 2005) searched by the sleuths of the Income Tax department, in view of complaints about illegal donations being collected from students seeking admission, I-T sources said.

The searches were conducted as a follow-up of the earlier I-T survey done on institutions offering professional courses in the field of engineering, medical and management, after the department received a large number of complaints regarding collection of donations from students by the Trustees in lieu of the seats, S K Sharma, Director-General, Income-Tax Department (Pune Division) told sources.

The searches were conducted at some reputed institutions too, he said but refused to divulge their names.

As some Trustees and middlemen were caught collecting donation at their business premises itself, their units and residences too were searched during the present operations, Sharma added.

Several documents and fixed deposits amounting to Rs 10crore were seized during the searches conducted at Kolhapur, Nasik, Thane, Latur, Pune, Saijungpur, Nepani and Mumbai, he added.

Sharma said the seized documents would be examined to ascertain the tax liability and fix penalty for tax-evaders.