An egg seller and a juice vendor in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh were in for a huge shock when they received notices for dues worth crores from the Income Tax (I-T) department.
The two men, who are the sole earners in their families, said the notices have left them deeply distressed.
In Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh district, egg seller Prince Suman said he has been issued a notice for a nearly Rs 50-crore business he never knew existed. The notice said that he owed the government Rs 6 crore as Goods and Services Tax (GST).
The I-T department’s notice revealed that a company, “Prince Enterprises”, was registered in Delhi’s State Zone 3, Ward 33, in Mr Suman’s name in 2022. This firm engaged in leather, wood and iron trading, and allegedly carried out massive transactions in the last two years.
“I only sell eggs on a cart. I have never been to Delhi, let alone start a company there,” Mr Suman, who stays in Pathariya Nagar, said.
Shri Dhar Suman, the egg seller’s father who runs a small grocery shop, said: “If we really had ₹50 crore, why would we struggle to meet daily expenses?”
The family’s lawyer suspects that Mr Suman’s personal documents were misused. “Someone has used Prince’s documents by fraud. We have approached both the police and tax authorities to probe the case,” he said.
In its March 20 notice, the I-T department sought a detailed breakdown of financial transactions totaling ₹49.24 crore. They also sought documents like bills, purchase vouchers, transportation records and bank statements for the financial year 2022-23.
Mr Suman is not alone. Md Rahees, a juice vendor in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh, has received an I-T notice of over Rs 7.5 crore, sending him and his family into a tizzy.
“I don’t know why this notice has been issued. I only sell juice. I have never seen so much money. What should I do now?” Mr Rahees said.
“I request the government to help me. I am a poor man. I should not be implicated in a false case,” he added.
The notice pointed at “bogus” transactions worth crores in 2020-21 in his name. Thus, he owed the government GST to the tune of Rs 7,79,02,457.
“We approached the I-T authorities who asked me if I had shared my personal documents with anyone. I said I never shared them with anyone,” Mr Rahees, who stays in Tar Wali Gali under Banna Devi police station, said.
Rahees’s mother said: “We struggle for our daily meals… If we had so much money, why would our son have to work so hard?”
Sources said that a preliminary probe revealed that Rahees’s personal documents were fraudulently used for donating crores of rupees for the 2022 Punjab assembly elections.
“If Rahees was a millionaire, would he run a juice shop? This is definitely a case of fraud,” the juice seller’s friend, Sohail, said.
With inputs from Adnan Khan