In a shocking incident, a tea seller has been served a notice worth Rs 49 crore by the Income Tax department. Later he found out that he had been scammed for the last few years.
Khemraj Dave, originally from Banaskantha district, has been selling tea in Navaganj commodity market of Gujarat’s Patan district. During this time, he got acquainted with Alpesh and Vipul Patel, who run a brokerage business in the market. Both of them used to come to Dave's shop to have tea. In 2014, Dave, who studied till class VII, asked for help from them to link his bank account with the PAN card. He gave the Aadhaar and PAN card along with the photo to the Patel brothers. After a few days, Dave got his Aadhaar and PAN card back. If Dave is to be believed, during this time he was made to sign some papers also.
Penalty for illegal transactions in FY15 and FY16
There was nothing suspicious till the year 2023, before he received an Income Tax notice in the month of August. Since the notice was in English, Dave was unable to read it and ignored it. But when the notice came again, Dave contacted a lawyer named Suresh Joshi and found out that the Income Tax Department has imposed a penalty for illegal transactions in the financial years 2014-15 and 2015-16.
Soon after getting the news, Dave checked his account and also got the passbook printed. Dave found nothing suspicious in his account but the bank officer told him that Dave has another account in his name. Shocked Dave sought advice and some people asked him to go to a lawyer in Mehsana. However, Alpesh and Vipul threatened to trap him instead in case he told anyone.
Dave files complaints
After finding no way out Dave reached out to the Patan police and filed a case of forgery and fraud against Alpesh and Vipul Patel.
Dave has alleged that both of them opened an account in his name and carried out financial transactions. Due to which he has now received a notice of Rs 49 crore from the Income Tax Department. Dave has filed a report in Patan Police's B station and demanded an investigation into the entire matter.
(With IANS Inputs)
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