Gulamahemad Hamidulla Khan Vs ITO (ITAT Pune Bench)
No Account Number, No Branch, No Deposit Date-Rs.61.63-Lakh Reassessment u/s 147 Collapses on Vague INSIGHT Alert
A scrap merchant confronted with a mystery account
The assessee, Gulamahemad Hamidulla Khan, was a small scrap merchant who collected scrap by visiting localities & residential colonies. For AY 2016-17, he had filed his return declaring business income of Rs.3,90,190.
The AO reopened the assessment on the allegation that the assessee had deposited cash of Rs.61,63,170 with Shri Renuka Mata Multi State Urban Co-operative Credit Society Ltd. The information reportedly originated from a search u/s 132 conducted upon the society on 26.05.2017, during which it was allegedly discovered that the society operated as a conduit for laundering unaccounted money.
According to information appearing on the Department’s INSIGHT Portal, the assessee deposited Rs.61.63 lakh in cash with the society & subsequently withdrew it from another branch. An assessment was ultimately completed u/s 147 r.w.s. 144B, making an addition of the entire amount.
Assessee denies the account itself
The assessee consistently maintained that he had never maintained any account with the credit society & had not deposited the alleged cash. This denial was placed before the AO during the assessment proceedings & was reproduced in the assessment order.
