BENGALURU: This autorickshaw driver’s story seems to have been taken out of Charles Dickens’ ‘Great Expectations.’ Subramani lives in a villa worth Rs 1.6 crore in Mahadevapura, Whitefield, the city’s upscale IT hub. His incongruous lifestyle caught the attention of local residents, who alerted the Income Tax (I-T) Department over the visible mismatch between his apparent income and the property, which seemed to a benami one.
The I-T Department, which is keeping a hawk’s eye on movement of unaccounted money during the Parliamentary elections, immediately swung into action and carried out a search operation in mid-April at Subramani’s villa and questioned him thoroughly. It turned out that Subramani had a hidden benefactor in an Australian woman, Laurie, who runs a school for children with special needs in the city.
According to official sources, Subramani used to ferry Laurie every day from her house to the school and back. “She was very impressed with his humility and service and took pity on his paltry living. So Laurie decided to ‘gift’ him a decent shelter and bought him a villa, where she lives with his family. He, however, continues to drive the autorickshaw.
The I-T officials checked the property documents and found that it was not benami.“Reports that the department had seized cash of Rs 7.9 crore from Subramani is bogus and unfounded,” said an official on condition of anonymity.
By Tuesday, news about Subramami and his controversial villa had spread like wild fire amidst speculation that former BJP minister and Mahadevapura MLA Arvind Limbavali may have parked his money with him.
On Wednesday, Limbavali clarified on social media that the auto driver was neither close to him nor did he belong to the party.
“Long ago, the auto driver had once participated with me in a public function. But there are hundreds of people from my constituency who do so. If the I-T Department has found Rs 7.9 crore unaccounted wealth from him, they should investigate the case and take stern action against him as per law,” said Limbavali.
He added that he regularly files his I-T returns with the Department and the Lokayukta.
“Please spare me this embarrassment,’’ he said.