Tax raids on Jaipur wedding planners reveal Crypto use, Rs 20 cr in cash & jewels seized
Income Tax officials in Jaipur uncovered cryptocurrency transactions during raids on wedding planners, seizing over ₹20 crore in cash and jewellery and freezing three crypto wallets. The planners allegedly converted cash from clients into cryptocurrencies like USDT and Bitcoin, using hawala networks to move unreported funds.
Sat, 29 Mar 2025
Looking for hidden cash trails in the books of large wedding planners in Jaipur, the tax men have stumbled upon something they least expected: Cryptos.
Some of the organisers of these extravagant marriages appear to be regular users of cryptocurrencies— primarily converting the cash received from clients into cryptos, and perhaps occasionally even carrying out some of the transactions with the virtual digital assets.
More than Rs 20 crore worth of cash and jewellery have been seized and three crypto wallets have been frozen during the raids conducted last week on around 20 premises. In the course of the search operations, Income Tax (I-T) officials spotted the mention of more crypto accounts in WhatsApp chats.
The assessees refused to share passwords. Emails were sent to the nodal compliance officers (of the exchanges). The accounts have been frozen and the balances were obtained...” said a tax official.One of the crypto wallets is with a leading international exchange while the other two are with local platforms. According to a source, unreported cash can be swapped into popular cryptos like USDT (or Stablecoin) and Bitcoin by using the services of hawala operators in Gujarat and Rajasthan. USDT, also known as digital dollar, is backed by reserves of the US currency, while Bitcoin (or BTC) is the most liquid crypto that is at the forefront of the latest crypto bull run.
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