BHOPAL: A male cook at a roadside dhaba in Gwalior district of Madhya Pradesh has received a notice from the Income Tax Department about Rs 46.18 crore business transactions having taken place in an account held under his name at a nationalized bank branch in national capital Delhi.
The cook Ravindra Singh Chauhan, who hails from MP’s Bhind district, but is working at a roadside dhaba-cum-family restaurant in Gwalior district now, worked with a premier automobile company in Pune till July.
But he left the job following multiple notices from the IT Department and returned to Gwalior in MP, where he has started working at the roadside dhaba, which fetches him Rs 10,000 monthly salary. “I earn Rs 10,000 monthly, so how can I indulge in transactions worth Rs 46 crore-plus,” he said.
The latest IT Department notice sent to Chauhan mentions, “Information in possession with the department suggests that income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment to the extent of Rs 46,18,32,916 for the financial year 2020-21 relevant to the assessment year 2021-22.”
Chauhan worked as a mess helper at a toll plaza in Gwalior district between 2019 and 2023. “In November 2019, the supervisor at the plaza Shashi Bhushan Rai (who hailed from Bihar’s Buxar district) took me to Delhi and got a bank account opened in my name for helping me get the provident fund money. On return, I informed about the development to other colleagues and some friends, who said that I shouldn’t have opened that bank account, as it could be misused in future. I requested the supervisor to get the account closed, who later informed me that the account had been closed. Much to my surprise six years later, I have landed in trouble due to the same bank account in Delhi, which shockingly remains active,” Chauhan said.
“I’ve been running from one police office to another in Gwalior district with a complaint against Shashi Bhushan Rai, but I’m being told as the alleged crime with me happened in Delhi, so I should go to Delhi Police in the matter,” Chauhan said.
According to a Gwalior-based advocate Pradyumna Singh Bhadauria, who is helping Chauhan’s cause, “We first went to the Income Tax office in the matter, where we were told by officials that Rs 46.18 crore transaction had taken place through the bank account held in Chauhan’s name. We subsequently went to the Punjab National Bank local branch in Gwalior, where the bank manager told us that the concerned transaction had not taken place in the account in MP, but through an account in Uttam Nagar branch in Delhi, which was also held in Chauhan’s name. The account was opened by Shashi Bhushan Rai in Chauhan’s name for crediting his provident fund money. It has been found that Rs 12.50 lakh is still there in the concerned bank account. As the IT Department has asked us to get a case registered in the matter with police, we’ve been taking up the matter with Gwalior police, but it remains unaddressed.”
“The bank account which was opened by Shashi Bhushan Rai in Chauhan’s name in 2019 is being used now by an apparel company and transactions of Rs 46.18 crore have taken place through that account and Rs 12.50 lakh are still in that account,” the advocate said.