In its ongoing drive against tax evasion, the income-tax department has detected an evasion of over Rs 1,700 crore and seized undisclosed assets worth about Rs 228 crore during searches carried out in April-November 2006.

Searches were conducted at Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad and Guwahati, covering various segments of trade, commerce and industry, including manufacturers, spice traders, real estate developers, service providers, civil contractors, performing artists and educational institutions. In the past two months alone, the department seized undisclosed assets worth Rs 20 crore and detected tax evasion of over Rs 500 crore.

After a search operation carried out in a metropolitan city on real estate developers, a taxpayer has admitted to a tax-concealed income of about Rs 125 crore.

The department has also detected tax evasion of over Rs 1,100 crore this fiscal through surveys conducted at the business premises of taxpayers, a CBDT release said on Thursday. The government’s direct tax collections grew 41.7% during April 2006-January 22, 2007 to Rs 1,55,442 crore.