Meenu Gupta Vs ACIT (ITAT Delhi)
Addition Based Solely on WhatsApp Message Without Certificate u/s 65B of Evidence Act Deleted
A search was conducted on the Sharda/Agarwal group on 08.03.2022. Assessee, proprietor of Meenu Enterprises (coal business), filed return declaring ₹16,47,670. During assessment, AO retrieved a ledger screenshot/WhatsApp message from the iPhone of one Rachit Gupta & alleged that the Assessee paid ₹17,00,000 in cash to M/s Shree Jee Enterprises between April–September 2021. Based solely on this digital document, addition of ₹17,00,000 was made u/s 69B as unexplained investment.
Assessee explained that no cash was paid & produced audited ledger accounts showing no such entries. It was argued that the WhatsApp message was only for confirmation of account mistakes, was secondary electronic evidence, & inadmissible without mandatory certificate u/s 65B of Evidence Act. No corroborative evidence of actual cash movement was found. It was further contended that the issue was already decided in Assessee’s own case for AY 2021-22 in favour of Assessee.
Tribunal noted that in ITA No. 3193/Del/2024 (AY 2021-22), the same Assessee faced an identical addition based on a WhatsApp message/photo seized from mobile, which was deleted after holding that without a 65B certificate, electronic data is non-est in law. The Tribunal in that year had also relied on ITAT Delhi in Ritu Tuli, ITAT Mumbai in Monica Kamarpal Banda, & Delhi High Court in Dell International India Pvt. Ltd., all holding that WhatsApp messages/images cannot be relied upon unless accompanied by valid Section 65B(4) certificate & without corroboration no addition can be made under section 69/69A/69B. Following its own earlier decision & noting absence of any corroborative material, the Tribunal held that the present addition was made purely on an inadmissible WhatsApp message & therefore cannot be sustained. The addition of ₹17,00,000 u/s 69B was deleted.
