Money belongs to 'big' fish, says bizman who declared Rs 13,860 cr

Mahesh Shah, the land dealer from Ahmedabad who declared Rs 13,860 crore under Income Disclosure Scheme (IDS) and was untraceable for the last two days, surfaced on a local television channel on Saturday and stated that the money he declared belonged to a group of “big” people.

On the live television broadcast, Shah claimed that the declared amount belonged to “powerful people”, who could be businessmen, politicians or officials. “It is a bhel puri (mixture),” said Shah, a real estate dealer, adding that he took the step of “voluntary disclosure” before the I-T department, on being lured by these “big fishes” in expectation of hefty commission.

IDS offered immunity to those who declare their unaccounted income and pay the tax. Accordingly, Shah was to pay 45%, roughly Rs 6,237 crore, of his declared money as tax. The first tranche of this, about Rs 1,560 crore, was due on November 30. However, when he failed to pay the first installment till November 28, I-T sleuths, smelling foul play, cancelled his Form No 2 under Section 193 of the Finance Act, 2016 (IDS) and began search operations at the addresses of Mahesh Shah and his CA firm. It was after this that the name of 67-year-old Shah came to light. Throughout the interview on Saturday, Shah maintained that the declared money did not belong to him and that he had done so for “personal needs”.