The common perception about the real estate sector in Gujarat housing black money is proving to be true. In the last two major crackdowns on realtors and businessmen, income tax officials have successfully unearthed over Rs200 crore of black money.

Renowned realty group in the city, Savvy Group, on Friday confessed to having unaccounted money worth Rs13 crore. The group had been evading the taxmen for over nearly two months since a major raid was launched at more than half-a-dozen realtors in the city.

Officials recovered nearly Rs87 crores when they came down heavily on five city-based groups in April, identified as Ajay Shridhar (Rs15 crore), Yogesh Shridhar (Rs2 crore), Maruti Group (Rs20 crore), Stars Club (Rs15 crore), Sky Elegance (Rs10 crore) and a couple of small time land brokers who collectively disclosed Rs25 crore of unaccounted money.

While, the five companies declared their unaccounted wealth much earlier, Savvy's authorities disclosed theirs only on Friday. With this 'confession', over Rs100 crore of black money hidden in the swanky real estate projects in the city has been revealed.

Earlier this year in March, tax officials had unearthed over Rs100 crore of black money when they raided three well-known groups including Surendranagar-based Makson Group and Aishwarya Sarees.

"Most realtors deal in black money. One needs to check them out randomly and one can find crores of it (black money). The builders and their chartered accountants always keep exploring newer ways to hide the money," said a top tax official.

He further stated that, right from the beginning of a realty project till its completion, every step is dubious. The official added that even in case of land brokers, lands are being grabbed from farmers and their names used to hide black money.