Man earning ₹7,000 gets notice to explain ₹134 cr transaction; his probe leads him to Mehul Choksi’s office!

Ravi Gupta 29 from Bhind district of Madhya Pradesh was taken aback after being handed over an income tax notice, asking him to explain transactions of ₹134 Crore made on a business account opened with his PAN number in Mumbai in 2011-2012, The Times of India reported.

He was told that a transaction of ₹134 crores was made through the account of a company with a private bank's branch in Mumbai between September 9, 2011, and February 13, 2012. The PAN card linked with this company belongs to Ravi Gupta.

But Ravi Gupta claims that he had a salary of ₹7,000 in those days. He has no idea how the account was opened and believes it to be a case of money laundering, which should be probed, TOI reported.

Ravi Gupta says an even bigger shock awaited him when he began his own investigation into the firm — it led him to a few steps from the offices of fugitive jeweller Mehul Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi, co-accused in the ₹12,700-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud. Gupta alleged that the transactions were made by a Gujarat-based diamond trading company.

A senior I-T official said Ravi can file a complaint seeking a probe.

The Times Of India quoted Ravi Gupta as saying “I was hardly 21 when these transactions were made. I had not been to Mumbai or Gujarat in 2011 or 2012. I was then working with a private firm in Indore, earning ₹7,000 a month, which is non-taxable.”

“I have written to MP cyber cell, Maharashtra Police, PMO and I-T officers to clear me of this tax recovery case,” he added.

He received the first tax notice on March 30, 2019, and told that his income for 2011-12 fiscal was taxable. “I ignored it since my salary that year was not taxable. Then, I got another one in July,” says Ravi. He then began to conduct his own investigation.

He says he went to income-tax offices in Mumbai to tell them that he isn’t at fault and that the account was not his. “Now, the I-T department has threatened to attach my properties to recover the dues,” he lamented.

According to the Times of India, Gupta was summoned by I-T in December and told to bring his account details, account opening form, PAN card, copy account verification form, service tax registration, TIN registration and firm registration in Gujarat. “I told them that I had nothing to do with the diamond company. The account had only my PAN card and that too with a forged signature. They should investigate how transactions of over ₹100 crores were made from an account that didn’t have a local address,” Gupta said.