Pune ITAT Deletes ₹1.14 Crore Addition Based Solely on Hawala Operator’s Statement; Cross-Examination Denial Proves Fatal

Santosh Jaynarayan Sharma Vs ITO (ITAT Pune) Pune ITAT Deletes ₹1.14 Crore Addition Based Solely on Hawala Operator’s Statement; Cross-Examination Denial Proves Fatal The Pune ITAT upheld the deletion of an addition of ₹1.14 crore made under section 69C, holding that the Assessing Officer could not sustain an addition merely on the basis of statements of alleged hawala operators and WhatsApp chats without bringing any independent corroborative evidence on record. The assessee, engaged in the footwear business, had imported goods from foreign suppliers. During assessment, the AO relied up...