Nagpur: The Income Tax Department’s Intelligence and Criminal Investigation (I&CI) Wing has intensified its crackdown on shady property transactions, carrying out surveys at three more Sub-Registrar Offices (SROs) in Nagpur and Wardha districts on Wednesday. The offices at Wardha-1, Wardha-2, and Arvi were targeted as part of the ongoing investigation that began in July.
Sources revealed that large-scale suppression of high-value property transactions has surfaced, with crores worth of deals going unreported to the IT Department. These transactions, which should have been mandatorily disclosed under the Statement of Financial Transactions (SFT) framework, were instead kept off the radar.
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11 Sept 2025
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had ordered a review of all 21 SROs in Nagpur and adjoining rural areas after the Hingna SRO survey exposed glaring irregularities. Since then, surveys have been conducted at several SROs, including Sadar, Mahal, and Mhalgi Nagar in Nagpur city, as well as in Amravati and Malkapur (Buldhana).
“The Hingna case revealed a modus operandi where SROs deliberately suppressed high-value transaction data. This has become a template for deeper scrutiny not just in Nagpur, but nationwide in the coming months,” an official confirmed.
Under existing rules, property transactions above ₹30 lakh must be reported annually through Form 61A (Part D) by May 31. While Maharashtra’s iSarita portal records every registered property deal, officials discovered that SROs manually filtered entries before uploading them to the IT Department’s SFT portal. As a result, numerous high-value deals were deliberately excluded from official reporting.
The discrepancy was detected when the I&CI Wing physically audited records, comparing raw iSarita data with SFT submissions. This cross-verification exposed intentional omissions rather than technical glitches.
Insiders suggest the possibility of collusion, with third-party data entry operators also coming under the scanner. The findings indicate that the manipulation allowed buyers and sellers to dodge tax scrutiny, with transactions slipping past the IT Department’s automated PAN-linked monitoring system.
With evidence mounting, the scope of the probe has now widened, and officials hinted that strict action could follow against erring registrars and their associates.
