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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Mahesh Shah, who declared Rs13,860 crore, detained by I-T dept
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Mahesh Shah, who declared Rs13,860 crore, detained by I-T dept

In an interview, Mahesh Shah claims he was dealing on behalf of some businessmen, politicians and government officials

Police and income tax officials detain Mahesh Shah (centre), who declared Rs13,860 crore under IDS, in Ahmedabad on Saturday. Photo: PTIPremium
Police and income tax officials detain Mahesh Shah (centre), who declared Rs13,860 crore under IDS, in Ahmedabad on Saturday. Photo: PTI

Ahmedabad: Mahesh Shah, the Ahmedabad-based property dealer, who had declared a stunning Rs13,860 crore of unaccounted money under the Income Declaration Scheme (IDS) was on Saturday detained by the Income Tax department.

I-T officials had recently carried out made raids at Shah’s residence in Ahmedabad, his relative’s houses and the office and residence of the chartered accountancy firm that had made the IDS declaration on his behalf.

In an interview to regional news channel ETV Gujarati, from whose news studio he was detained by the police on Saturday evening, Shah said that the income declared by him did not belong to him but he was dealing on behalf of some businessmen, politicians and government officials.

Shah claimed in the interview that he was overcome by greed to earn some money by way of commission but he will now expose the true identity of the people behind this to the I-T officials. He also claimed that the ‘black money hoarders’ were from Gujarat and some other states.

“I was not running away but for some reasons I stayed away from media," the businessman said.

In the interview to the news channel, Shah claimed that he was ready to pay the first instalment of Rs1,560 crore the deadline for which was 30 November, but the I-T department cancelled his IDS application on 28 November. “The people on whose behalf I was dealing also backed out," he said in the interview.

Shah’s CA Tehmul Sethna, who is a partner in Apaji Amin & Co, had informed the media on Friday about the searches carried out at their premises and those connected with his client. Sethna claimed Shah made a disclosure of Rs13,860 crore of cash under the IDS scheme which was closed on 30 September.

Sethna said he knew Shah from 2013 when he had first consulted him for a land deal, but he was not a regular client.

“A few months ago he approached me and asked me to explain to him the IDS scheme. When he told me that he had such a huge amount to disclose and was ready to pay to the government, I took him to senior I-T officials. Till the last day he kept assuring me that he would pay the instalment," Sethna told media-persons on Friday.

An I-T department official had on Friday said on conditions of anonymity that the department suspected Shah of money laundering and the searches were carried out in that connection.

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Published: 03 Dec 2016, 10:46 PM IST
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