Madhya Pradesh man earning Rs 53,000 per month gets I-T demand notice for Rs 113 crore

NEW DELHI: A resident of Bhind in Madhya Pradesh with a monthly income of Rs 53,000 got a demand notice from the Income Tax (I-T) Department to cough up Rs 113.83 crore for alleged transactions of Rs 132 crore in his account in 2011-12.

According to the I-T Department, Bhind resident Ravi Gupta is a promoter of Tiya Traders, a diamond-trading company registered as a firm in Surat and Mumbai. The I-T department also said Gupta has Tax Identification Number (TIN) registration, service tax registration, cheque details of Tiya Traders of RBL Bank and an Axis bank account which had been opened at Malad, Mumbai branch.

However, Gupta said except for a PAN copy and his photograph, nothing else belongs to him and that he is a victim of a big fraud. It is learnt that PMO had initiated an inquiry into Ravi Gupta’s case after it was first reported by ANI in 2020. Despite this, Gupta has received yet another notice from the I-T Department on March 28 this year.

Gupta said that at first, he received a notice from I-T Department in 2019, asking him to pay Rs 3.49 crore in penalties for 2011-12. He said he was then working at a BPO in Indore and earning a monthly salary of only Rs 7,000.

“That time, I thought that I-T Department has mistakenly sent me a notice and asked the department to correct it. But again, when I got a notice of Rs 1,13,83,32,008, I was shocked,” he said. For the last five years, Gupta has been tirelessly approaching central agencies in a desperate attempt to get his name cleared.

He has since filed complaints with the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and is surprised that they have not investigated the matter, despite similar cases coming to light, he said.

According to Gupta, the CBI’s Bhopal office has forwarded his complaint to the Economic Offence Wing (EoW), Gwalior, and said, “I believe that EoW is investigating this matter.” Gupta said that though the investigation is on by the EoW, the Income Tax Department has again last week issued a demand notice, leaving him no choice but to appeal against the notice.

“These notices are no less than mental harassment for me. There may be many others like me. I don’t know when and where this will stop”, Gupta said. Two of his colleagues from the same BPO — Kapil Shukla and Khandwa’s Praveen Rathore — have received similar I-T notices for 2011-12, he said.

The notice said, “If you do not pay the amount of the tax within the period specified above, penalty (which may be as much as the amount of tax in arrear) may be imposed upon you after giving you a reasonable opportunity of being heard in accordance with Section 221.”

It further said, “If you intend to appeal against the assessment, you may present an appeal under Part A of Chapter XX of the Income-Tax Act, 1961, to the NATIONAL FACELESS APPEAL CENTRE (NFAC) within thirty days of the receipt of this notice, in Form No. 35, duly stamped and verified as laid down in that form”. (ANI)