50 wealthy Indians under I-T scanner for buying Modi's jewellery
The Income Tax department has decided to reassess the income tax returns of over 50 high net-worth individuals (HNIs) who purchased jewellery from firms owned by the absconding Nirav Modi. The decision was taken after the I-T department sent notices to some HNIs asking them to explain their income source for the purchase of the jewellery, and found discrepancies. Here's more.
Details of the discrepancy between claims and evidence
The notified HNIs had denied making any cash payments to Nirav Modi's firms. However, the I-T department found, from company books, that payments had indeed been received by Modi's firms. The documents revealed that the high-end jewellery had been paid for partly through cards/cheques, and partly through cash. Hence, officials deemed it necessary to reassess the ITRs of the 50, as yet unnamed, people.
The HNIs might be charged with tax fraud
I-T department officials said that if discrepancies of concealed cash payments are found in the re-assessment (beginning from the assessment year 2014-15), HNIs will be charged for tax evasion, and subsequent action will be initiated. In some cases, the discrepancies might even be several lakhs. Meanwhile, department officials said that some more cases of this nature were under preliminary investigation.
Recently, I-T department carried out searches in a similar case
Recently, the I-T department conducted searches at a hospital group based out of Rewari, Haryana. The group was related to the family of Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav, on suspicion that the owners of the firm had bought Modi's jewellery in half-cash, half-cheque payments.
