Thane: Chandrakant Varak, a 56-year-old man who earns just enough to barely make his ends meet, has received a Rs 1.14 crore notice from the Income Tax Department. After getting the notice on February 1, a shocked Varak immediately inquired with the tax officials who said that he has received the official word as goods have been purchased in China using his PAN card details.
Describing his predicament, Varak, who lives with his sister in a Jain chawl in Thankarpada area of Kalyan, said that he hasn't seen Rs1 lakh cash in an entire year. Sometimes working as a housekeeping staff and on occasions taking up the gig of courier service, Varak struggles to eke out a livelihood of Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 a month. “They have advised me to file a police complaint in this matter,” he said after pursuing the tax officials.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, an Income Tax official said, “We have sent the notice to Varak under section 148 of the I-T act. We have asked him for the details of fiscal 2018-19 when the fishy deal was done. He has given time till February 13 to reply.” It could be possible that he would have given his PAN card to someone who has misused it to open the bank account used for the deal, surmised the official.
Meanwhile, Varak said that he will file a complaint with the Bazarpeth police station. He appealed to the I-T Department and the state government to clear him of the needless financial misdeed charge considering his weak economical status.
