Bengaluru: In its drive against wilful defaulters, the Income Tax Department, Karnataka & Goa, on Friday arrested a businessman Selvaraj from Tumkaru for an alleged tax default of Rs7.35 crore (including interest) under Section 222 of the Income Tax (I-T) Act, 1961.
This was the second arrest of a tax defaulter by the Department in less than a week. According to an official spokesperson in the I-T Department, Selvaraj despite losing appeals to the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal and being served with a notice of demand by the Tax Recovery Officer (TRO) had failed to pay the outstanding tax arrears of Rs. 7.35 crore.
In an official communication, which was issued on Saturday the Department stated that the defaulter from Tumkaru was summoned “17 times by the TRO to pay the dues, but he did not appear before the officer. Finally on October 3, 2018, a show-cause notice was issued to him as to why an arrest warrant should not be executed against him, following which, the defaulter appeared before the TRO but did not explain why he had not paid his due taxes. On his assurance that he would clear his tax arrears after his debtor paid him back his dues the TRO gave him another opportunity. Meanwhile, subsequent enquiries revealed that the defaulter had already recovered Rs 1 crore from the debtor but instead of clearing his tax dues he had utilised the amount for other purposes. On February 14, the TRO recorded a statement of the defaulter in which he accepted that despite receiving the money from his debtor he had not paid taxes and had thus violated the provisions of Section 222 of the I-T Act and Rule 73(a) and 73(b) of the Schedule II. The defaulter was arrested on February 15 and produced before the TRO-7, Bengaluru. He was remanded to judicial custody for six months at the Bengaluru Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara,” the official statement read.
On February 12, the I-T Department had arrested a Bengaluru-based businessman Deepak Gupta for an alleged Rs 12 crore tax default under Section 222 of the I-T Act at the Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai, when he was about to leave the country.
He has been remanded to judicial custody at the Bengaluru Central Prison. Section 222 of the I-T Act provides for arrest and detention of tax evaders and the attachment and sale of their moveable and immovable properties.
