The Investigation Division of the Central Board of Direct Tax (CBDT) has created a record for search operations against “undisclosed income” in FY22. With three months still to go for the year to end, the total as per publicly available data is about Rs 32,000 crore.

It has far eclipsed the level set in FY19 under this head, when it was just short of Rs 18,600 crore. In a Covid wracked year, these are astonishing numbers. Read along with the vastly expanded “predicate offences” powers of its brother department, the Enforcement Directorate, the numbers reflect ...