Indian Hawker Finds Rs5m Transacted In His Name

A man who sells incense sticks on the outskirts of Kolkata for a living was shocked to receive a notice from the income-tax department for having transacted over Rs5.5 million (Dh298,228) from his savings bank account with a private bank in India.

Tapas Guha initially considered the notice a cruel joke, as he hardly makes Rs3,000 a month.

However, a second notice he received on December 5 forced him to take the matter seriously. On making inquiries, he was shocked to learn there is indeed a bank account in his name from where millions are being transacted.

“It was a real shock to me as I did not even know that I had a bank account with that bank. A few years ago, some officials contacted me to open an account with the bank. I had given them all my information but, when they said the minimum balance required was Rs5,000, I refused to open the account. Now it seems they have used my documents to open this fake account,” Guha said.

Though a formal police complaint has been lodged against the bank, officials have sent a letter to Tapas asking him to close the account.

“They just have a single answer to all my queries asking me to close the bank account. However, now I am under interrogation and do not know how to handle these departments,” said Tapas.

Since demonetisation on November 8, many wealthy people have misused the bank accounts of low income individuals, and at times have been helped by bank employees to launder money in exchange of a fee.

“Close to a million bank accounts have been identified in West Bengal alone, where a high volume transactions have taken place post November 8, we are closely looking into it,” said an official of the Income Tax Department (IT).

However, as per Indian tax laws, scrutiny has to happen within two years of a transaction. The IT department is highly short staffed and it is almost impossible to verify the volume of bank accounts.

For hawker Guha though the nightmare has just begun as officials are asking him questions in relation to various high value transactions in his account.

He lives with his aged parents and younger sister, and is trying hard to make ends meet.

“I do not know who to touch base with. Neither have I ever visited an income-tax lawyer. I am at my wits ends as to how to clear my name from this mess,” Guha said.

source : gulfnews