PROPERTIES OF VERMA COUPLE IS ‘BENAMI’

KANPUR : Properties of joint commissioner, commercial tax, DK Verma and former road transport officer Sunita Verma have been declared benami, said an Income Tax official. The couple facing serious corruption charges could not produce the documents in the adjudicating authority of Income Tax, which could establish the properties were bought with known sources of income, the officer said.

KANPUR: Properties of joint commissioner, commercial tax, DK Verma and former road transport officer Sunita Verma had been declared benami, said an Income Tax official.

The couple facing serious corruption charges could not produce the documents in the adjudicating authority of Income Tax, which could establish the properties were bought with known sources of income, the officer said.

In addition, four more properties of Keshav Lal, former additional commissioner of commercial tax, were also declared benami. The authority earlier had put his six properties in different cities of the state in the benami category.

The couple hadn’t gone in appeal but Keshav Lal had against the decision, said people privy to the developments.

Amrendra Kumar, director, investigations, said the adjudicating authority had declared all his 10 properties benami after prolong hearing into Keshav Lal case.

Keshav Lal was forcibly retired this year by the government following disclosures.

Keshav Lal’s establishment were raided in 2017 in which the Income Tax authorities had found undeclared assets worth ₹100 crore, 10 crore in cash and 13 kg of jewellery. The raid was in the follow up of the one carried out on Verma couple, who also had three properties undeclared and ₹1.23 crore in cash, the official said.

The official said the couple in their defence had said the money recovered belonged to Verma’s mother Maya and they accrued the properties through the gold they inherited. But they could not provide the details where the couple disposed of the gold and for how much, he said.

The Benami wing of the Income Tax had served them a final notice in April this year over their properties in Kanpur and Lucknow.

The couple could not provide any details about the purchases. After going through their records, it was decided to declare their alleged illegally acquired assets as illegal, he said.

Earlier, the Benami wing had produced all the evidences before the adjudicating authority in Delhi, which heard both the sides before passing the decision.