Vendor gets notice for `18cr in his a/c

Income-tax sleuths are investigating the bank accounts of a small-time chocolate vendor, where transactions of a whopping `18 crore have been processed during demonetisation in November last year.

The account holder is Kishori Lal and the bank is Renuka Mata Multistate Co-operative Bank.

The income-tax department has sent a notice to Mr Lal and demanded an explanation on the cash transactions. Shocked with the I-T notice, Mr Lal has claimed innocence and has said that he does not have a clue about the transactions that have taken place from his account.

Further investigation has led the I-T officials to come to the conclusion that Mr Lal is a small-time trader and has neither the possible sources of such income nor the contacts who would have such huge earnings.

Income-tax sleuths are investigating the bank accounts of a smalltime chocolate vendor Kishori Lal, where transactions of a whopping `18 crore have been processed during demonetisation in November last year.

Sources in the I-T department say that the money was deposited from Mumbai and later sent to various accounts in the country. On November 8, `18 crore was deposited in his account. Then, in the next nine days, from November 8 to November 16, the money was sent out to multiple accounts outside Vijayawada.

Mr Lal has told the IT officials that at the time of opening the account, the bank manager had taken his signatures on various cheques with the assurance that it was for the bank loan for which Mr Lal had applied.

I-T officials suspect that those cheques might have been utilised to withdraw money from his account. As is known, anyone can deposit money if the account number is known but withdrawal is only possible if they have internet access to the account or through cheques signed by the account holder.

“The transactions were made in collision with the bank officials and we are examining the role played by the bank manager, who has now been transferred elsewhere. We are also tracking the accounts to which the money has gone,” said the official.