Income tax raids on Manipal group of hospitals over suspected tax evasion

Bengaluru: Raids and seizure operations were carried out at the Manipal group of hospitals in Bengaluru and Udupi by the Income Tax (I-T) department after receiving a complaint of suspected tax evasion.  

The office of the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) in Manipal in Udupi district and Manipal Hospitals in Bengaluru were raided by the officials. The officials raided nearly 20 locations connected to the group. 

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There were nearly 20 officials of the IT department who conducted raids and verified documents at the Manipal Hospitals located at Millers Road and at the Old Airport road, located in the High Grounds police station area, with the help of the police. Further, raids were also conducted at the Manipal Group's finance division in Manipal town, Udupi district, and other branches at Yeshwanthpur in Bengaluru. The IT officials had arrived at Millers Road in four vehicles early in the morning, after which they seized several documents, reports The Federal. 

As per the information received, the IT officials reached the Edu Building of MAHE around 6 am and began searching the fourth floor of the Edu building for documents where the finance department is located. Udupi district Superintendent of Police Akshay M Hakay said they provided a police escort to the IT officials. However, according to the MAHE spokesperson, this search was part of a routine task and added that he could not reveal anything and would come out with details later, as per The New Indian Express report. 

Further, it was reported that the IT officials had not left the campus till late in the night, with the searches expected to continue the next day since there were reportedly a lot of documents to analyse. Meanwhile, the hospital doctors stated that the IT searches did not affect the patients. 

The Manipal Hospitals group, which had acquired Bengaluru-based Columbia Asia Hospitals and Vikram Hospital, is a part of Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG) and is owned by Ranjan Pai. Pai is the chairman of the Group, which has six colleges and 27 hospitals in the country. Further, Manipal University has overseas campuses in Malaysia, Antigua, Dubai, and Nepal as well, with a net worth of $1.4 billion.

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