DCIT Vs Deepti Agrawal (ITAT Delhi)
Suspicion can’t replace proof: ITAT Delhi upholds genuine LTCG on Capital Tradelink & Alankit shares
Delhi Tribunal dismissed the Revenue’s appeal and upheld the deletion of additions made on account of alleged bogus long-term capital gains. The AO had treated LTCG of ₹3.73 crore from sale of shares of Capital Tradelink Pvt. Ltd. and Alankit Ltd. as non-genuine and also added alleged accommodation entry expenses u/s 69C. The Tribunal noted that the CIT(A) had rightly relied on coordinate bench decisions in the assessee’s own case for earlier years and in the case of her husband, where identical scrips were held to be genuine. It was observed that transactions were carried out through recognised stock exchanges, supported by demat statements, banking channels and payment of STT, and there was no material to show collusion with promoters or manipulation specific to the assessee. Mere reliance on SEBI alerts, investigation reports or abnormal price movement, without concrete evidence, was held insufficient to brand genuine transactions as bogus. Reiterating that suspicion, however strong, cannot take the place of proof, the Tribunal found no infirmity in the CIT(A)’s order and dismissed the Revenue’s appeal.
FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER OF ITAT DELHI
This appeal is preferred by the revenue against the order dated 26.03.2024 of the Ld. Commissioner of Income Tax(A)-26, New Delhi (hereinafter referred as Ld. First Appellate Authority or in short Ld. ‘FAA’) in DIN: ITBA/APL/M/250/2023-24/1063539675(1) arising out of the assessment order dated 22.03.2022 u/s 147 r.w.s 143(3) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’) passed by the ACIT, Central Circle-15 for AY: 2017-18.
