Income Tax Notice of Rs.49 Crore to Tea Seller in Gujarat

The Income Tax Department’s decision to issue a staggering Rs.49 crore notice to a humble tea seller in Gujarat has certainly raised eyebrows and sparked widespread discussion. Later it was found that he had been scammed for the last few years.

Khemraj Dave, who was originally from the Banaskantha district, has been selling tea in Navaganj commodity market of Gujarat’s Patan district. It is at this period in time that he would meet Alpesh and Vipul Patel, brokers who own a brokerage company in the market. Dave’s shop was where they both used to run to in order to have tea. The applicant named Dave had education till class VII in 2014, sought their assistance to link his bank account with PAN card. He handed over the Aadhaar and PAN card to the Patel brothers and also requested them to give one of his photographs. Several days later, Dave received his Aadhaar and PAN card. According to Dave, signing of some papers was also facilitated to him during this time as well.

Receiving of Penalty for Illegal Transactions

The Petitioner says that there was no such activity, which can be considered as something to do until year 2023, when he got an Income Tax notice in the month of August. At one day, Dave was given a notice which was written in English, but he could not comprehend it and thus did not pay any attention to it. But when the notice came again, Dave consulted a lawyer named Suresh Joshi to get to know that the income tax department has levied penalty for carrying out illegitimate operations in the financial years 2014-15 and 2015-16.

Subsequently, the news arrived; David also checked his account and had his own get the passbook printed. Dave was lest he discovers something wrong with the account and the bank officer told him that Dave has another account in his name. Screaming, Dave decided to seek some advice so some people said he has to go to a lawyer in Mehsana. However, Alpesh and Vipul threatened to trap him instead in case he told anyone the story of what transpired between them since they knew he was aware of the whole episode.

Filing of Complaints

As per the law and after failing to seek any legal help into the issue Dave reported the case to the Patan police where he lodged a case of forgery and fraud against Alpesh and Vipul Patel. According to the allegations made by Dave, both of them have registered an account in his name and conducted several operations with money. Because of which he has now been issued a demand notice for Rs.49 crore by the Income Tax Department. Dave has gone to Patan Police’s B station and lodged a formal complaint to give his side of the story and seek an inquiry on the occurrences.