Daily wager gets IT department notice for tax evasion
ROURKELA: An unskilled daily wager with no assurance of regular job, 23-year-old Rinku Barik has been asked by the Income Tax (IT) department to pay a hefty tax on his income which apparently runs into multiple crores of rupees. The poor youth is now losing his sleep over the hefty tax amount after the IT authorities rejected his plea that someone committed fraud in his name.
Rinku’s agony started in September 2018 when he received spot summon from the Directorate General of GST Intelligence. In December the same year, the CSGT and Central Excise Superintendent of Nayagarh Range slapped a notice on Rinku stating that the youth had available Input Tax Credit (ITC) of around Rs 4.31 crore and evaded tax.
Rinku said he came to know that miscreants fraudulently used his identity to show him as the proprietor of a steel company with two addresses at Rourkela and Nayagarh. A current account was also opened in his name in the Rourkela branch of Urban Cooperative Bank Ltd (UCBL). Rinku said he had shared his personal documents with some persons while applying for a job.
Rinku’s father Ganesh, a low-earning barber who struggles to meet the family’s daily needs, said on March 10, his son received a notice from the IT department. Rinku wrote back explaining his innocence. But another notice was served on March 28 asking him to comply with IT provisions. In the second notice, the IT Officer of Ward-1, Rourkela wrote ‘the reply of the assessee is rejected’.
The IT department wants chargeable tax on Rs 13.21 crore credited to Rinku’s UCBL account, bogus transactions of Rs 16.16 crore and a purchase transaction of Rs 2.94 crore, all during financial year 2017-18, Ganesh added.
Incidentally, the Cyber Crime Cell and Economic Offences Wing of police have arrested UCBL’s Rourkela branch Assistant Manager Akshay Kumar, his senior clerk Prasanta Kumar and two SGST fraudsters, Amit Beriwal and Santosh Swain, from Rourkela. The four accused were produced in Sambalpur court on Saturday for offences under sections 419, 420, 467 and 120 (B) of the IPC along with section 66(C)/66(D) of IT Act 2008.
They were arrested basing on the complaint filed by a Sambalpur resident alleging that his identity and documents were fraudulently used to commit SGST forgery. Amit and Santosh were earlier arrested by Commercial Tax and SGST officials.
Sources said there are nearly 120 fake accounts in Rourkela branch of UCBL and GST fraud running into several thousands crores of rupees was committed during 2017-18 and 2018-19. Rinku said his complaint to investigate the fraud using his name was not accepted by police and his family is incapable to hire a lawyer.
Like Rinku, many other persons hailing from poor background are in a state of despair after their identities were forged by fraudsters to commit massive CGST and State GST fraud.
Victim’s woes
In September 2018, Rinku received spot summon from the Directorate General of GST Intelligence
In December the same year, the CSGT and Central Excise Superintendent of Nayagarh served a notice stating Rinku had available Input Tax Credit of around Rs 4.31 crore
On March 10 and 28, the youth received notice from the IT department
Rinku had shared his personal documents with some persons while applying for a job