In bank account BPL woman never opened, ₹80L deposit

IT DEPARTMENT ISSUES NOTICE TO DAILY WAGE EARNER SURENDRA DHANKA’S WIFE. DHANKA, HOWEVER, SAYS HE HAS NO IDEA ABOUT THE ACCOUNT

JAIPUR: A BPL daily wage labourer in Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh district got a shock of his life when Income Tax department sent a notice asking his wife to clarify “huge transaction” recorded from a bank account registered in her name.

Surendra Dhanka, the dailywage earner from the district’s Sangariya said his wife Mamta Devi is a Bhamashah card holder and also has a Jan Dhan account but he has no idea about the account mentioned by the I-T department.

In the notice sent to Devi, the I-T department mentioned that the bank account in her name has registered transactions of around ₹80 lakh in the past one year. “We are a below poverty line family and I earn my livelihood by doing menial labour jobs. I-T department has said that the account is operated in the name of my wife, but till we received the notice we had no clue about it,” said Dhanka.

Dhanka added that in 2014, his wife had gone to a bank branch to open a Jan Dhan account but had come back after her account was opened in another bank.

“The bank officials had taken photocopies of my wife’s id card at that time and we suspect that the account was opened by someone with that. We are very distressed to get the notice as I haven’t seen ₹1 lakh in my whole life, how can I possibly have an income of ₹80 lakh?” said Dhanka.

On November 23 Dhanka wrote to the I-T department explaining his situation. He has also submitted copies of BPL cards as a proof of his family’s financial situation.

“Around ₹80 lakh was deposited as well as withdrawn from the said bank account starting from 2014 and it was closed in late 2015. That is why we had sent a notice to the account holder, asking her to clarify on the high turnover,” said an official from the investigation wing of the I-T department.

“We are currently conducting an independent investigation to ascertain if not Dhanka or his wife, who was operating this account and how they managed to create the account in the name of Devi. Previously too, we have come across similar cases in Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar,” said the official.