The income tax department has joined the various other agencies in forming a special team to probe the affairs in Satyam Computer Services.

IT sources told TOI that Satyam used to pay around Rs 100 crore per annum as income tax. "The confession by B Ramalinga Raju that profits were cooked up over successive years has forced us to launch an enquiry into the returns filed by the company as by showing what now is turning to be inflated figures, they had availed of a lot of concessions," said an official.

The special team, which was constituted on January 12, has got down to business. "The team will examine the balance sheets, financial statements
and IT returns filed by the Satyam computers in the past few years," the official said.

Amlendu Das, Director General (investigation) Income Tax, Hyderabad, told TOI that the IT department has began investigation into the Satyam issue and that they were in touch with the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) personnel and SEBI officials.

On the baffling question as to how did the IT department not detect the `inflated' profits, department officials said: "If any firm is inconsistent in paying tax or suddenly started paying less amount as tax, one would examine the accounts. But in Satyam's case, no abnormal filing of returns was noticed."

So far, the IT special team has not visited any of the Satyam offices. IT officials said the need to seize any documents under Section 132 of the Income-Tax Act did not arise so far as most of the tax related records of Satyam are already in the IT department's possession.