The ghost of demonetisation has finally come to haunt the unscrupulous who converted the 50-day period between November 8 and December 31, 2016 for depositing the banned ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes in banks into an opportunity to make a quick buck.
In utter disregard of the modalities put forth by the Reserve Bank of India, businessmen had deposited amounts of banned currency in excess of ₹10 lakh, which they are finding it hard to explain at this juncture. Among those who were sent notices by the Income Tax Department calling for the explanation latest by March 31 are goldsmiths, cotton commission agents, petrol bunk owners, wine retailers, cloth showroom owners and kirana merchants.
According to sources, not even one per cent of the nearly 500 individuals to receive notices have submitted satisfactory explanations with regard to the unsually huge deposits .
‘Abnormal’ deposits
Quoting an example, a source said one goldsmith deposited ₹70 lakh in banned currency in his bank account which was more than four times the cumulative transactions he registered during the previous two years.
“The cumulative ‘abnormal’ deposits from these sections of society could be in the range of ₹200 crore,” a source estimated.
“These people are unable to justify the deposits as their transactions are a gross mismatch and such individuals are being asked to either pay 50% of the amount of questionable deposit as tax which will go to the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana and 25% as interest free fixed deposit under Pradhan Mantri Gharib Deposit Scheme to be returned after four years,” the source revealed.
The IT department has deployed specially trained personnel to deal with the mammoth task in unearthing dubious transactions. The Intelligence Wing of the IT Department is reportedly in the know of the exact amount of black money involved in dubious operations as well as the number of individuals and firms as it is in possession of video footage from all banks.
For all the intelligence generated by the IT Department during the tumultuous period, no politician or government official has been caught in its dragnet. Much of money which has been laundered, especially through petrol bunks and cotton trading belongs to them, it is rumoured.
