ACIT Vs Manchukonda Shyam (ITAT Visakhapatnam)
Summary: The Revenue challenged the order of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)-3, Visakhapatnam, which had deleted an addition of Rs.1,05,00,000/- made in the hands of the assessee, Manchukonda Shyam. The assessee also filed cross objections supporting the CIT(A)’s order.
The first issue concerned an alleged cash loan of Rs.1.05 crore said to have been advanced by the assessee to Shri Lanka Anil Kumar, an employee of M/s Navaratna Estates. A search under Section 132 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 was conducted at the residential premises of the assessee on 24.11.2015. Simultaneously, a search was conducted at the residence of Shri Lanka Anil Kumar. WhatsApp messages extracted from his mobile phone were seized as pages 31-34 of Annexure LAK/01.
In his statement under Section 132(4), Shri Lanka Anil Kumar stated that the WhatsApp entries represented conversations concerning cash loans taken from Shri Shyam Zaveri for business purposes. He stated that the figures represented amounts in lakhs and that the aggregate amount was Rs.1.05 crore.
The assessee, when questioned, gave a different explanation. He stated that the amounts referred to cash provided by M/s Navaratna Estates to Shri Lanka Anil Kumar for miscellaneous and petty expenses incurred during property registrations. According to the assessee, the amounts represented only Rs.5,000/- to Rs.10,000/- and were not figures expressed in lakhs.
