Deleting data won’t save income tax evaders

Ankur JainAnkur Jain, TNN | Jan 23, 2012, 12.49AM IST


AHMEDABAD: Gone are the days when during an income-tax (I-T) raid one could delete emails or records of clandestine transactions from a laptop or incriminating smses from cellphones and feel safe. The I-T department sleuths in the city will soon be armed with gadgets that can recover deleted data from tax evaders' electronic devices.

The income tax department will soon have its own cyber forensics laboratory with data mining facilities which will allow deleted files and emails from assesses' computer and cellphone to be recovered.

The department has such facilities in Delhi and Mumbai that have helped officials retrieve information about hundreds of crores of transactions which were deleted by the tax evader over a period or hours before the raid.

"We have sent a proposal for budget approval to Central Board Of Direct Taxes (CBDT) for setting up a cyber forensics and training laboratory at Ahmedabad. We have requested Rs 2 crore for the laboratory which will not only help officials investigate tax evasion cases but also help in training of new officer," said director income-tax, Regional Training Institute (RTI) Abhay Damle. He added that the laboratory will be useful to officials in the entire state for post-search investigations.

Sources said that with finance minister's indication about setting up such laboratories in different cities, CBDT will most likely allocate budget for setting up the facility before March this year.

"Cyber tools have come handy to the I-T department's investigation wing which gathers intelligence and conducts searches to unearth black money. Once the laboratory is setup, officers during search will be able 'clone' data on assesses' computers including the deleted materials during a search," said a senior I-T official.