India / Mumbai labourer earning ₹300 per day served ₹1 crore I-T notice

A tax department notice to a daily wage labourer in Mumbai with a large tax bill has left him somewhat shaken. 35-year-old Bhausaheb Ahire, who earns around Rs 300 per day, has received a notice from the Income-Tax department asking him to pay over Rs 1 crore.

Fraud victim

Ahire lives with his family in a slum in the outer suburbs of Ambivli. He had recently approached the police complaining that fraudsters had created a fake bank account in his name and have used his PAN card to make transactions through it.

"I got a letter from Income-Tax (department) in which they asked me to pay Rs 1.05 crore. I get weekly payments from doing a labourer's job. I have never seen Rs 1 lakh together. This is a fraud. I should get justice," an anxious Bhausaheb Ahire said.

On September 5 last year, Ahire received a notice from the I-T department seeking an explanation for Rs 58 lakh deposit in his account. According to the notice, Ahire had deposited Rs 21 lakh in cash in denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, which were stripped of its legal tender on November 9, 2016.