AHMEDABAD: A shocking incident has come to light in Gujarat’s Dakor town, where a poor idol seller Chirag Jagdish Bhaiya has been slapped with an income tax notice of nearly Rs 19.84 crore, which could be a case of possible misuse of his identity credentials or plain administrative failure. Ironically, the small-time vendor struggles to earn Rs 200 a day.
Chirag sells idols made of plastic and fiber in Dakor’s Gomati Ghat area. He got a surprise when he received a letter through registered post from the Income Tax Department at his rented accommodation. It contained a notice which stated that transactions worth Rs 19.84 crore have been recorded in his name. It showed that transactions worth Rs 11.86 crore took place in 2021-22, followed by another Rs 7.98 crore in 2022–23.
The notice Chirag received from the department bore postage stamp worth Rs 5,500, which could very well match Chirag’s monthly earnings. Chirag said, “I make small idols and earn just Rs 100 to Rs 200 a day. If I cannot run my house properly, how will I hire a lawyer to reply to the IT department?”
Chirag was compelled to seek counsel of his neighbours to understand the implication of the notice. They were surprised to see that a small-time vendor with no assets, no stable income and no financial footprints ended up with crores of rupees worth of transactions in his name. They cautioned him about the possibility of identity theft where his documents could have been misused or a technical glitch within the system of the I-T Department.
Chirag is yet to hear from the I-T authorities in this matter.