Note deposits over `2.5L will be under I-T Teen hit by train while taking selfie on platform at Mira Road

PUNISHMENT FOR EVASION Tax plus 200% penalty for income mismatch, says Modi government

Cash deposits above Rs2.5 lakh could attract tax besides a 200% penalty in case of income mismatch, the government said on Wednesday, unveiling more measures to combat the “disease” of corruption and drain out illicit cash from the economy.

The announcement came a day after PM Narendra Modi created a flutter by abolishing 1,000-and 500-rupee banknotes in a move to flush out money hidden from the tax man. New 500-and 2,000-rupee bills will replace about 86% of all currency in circulation by value.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday people can deposit as much cash as they want in banks to get new notes but added the money will be open to tax scrutiny. Hours later, revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia spelt out how the government proposed to go about the business. “We would be getting reports of all cash deposited during the period of November 10 to December 30 above a threshold of Rs2.5 lacs in every account. The department would do matching of this with income returns filled by the depositors. And suitable action may follow,” he told reporters.

Amounts that don’t match income sources will attract 30% tax and a penalty of 200% on the taxable amount, he told HT, adding prosecution will be decided on a case-to-case basis. Successive governments have struggled with under-reporting of taxes, seen as a hurdleinexpandingstaterevenues, aswellaswithgrowingundisclosed incomes to avoid taxation.

Jaitley said the ban on highvalue banknotes will change this.“The credibility of the Indian economy will increase,” he told journalists, adding the move will boost tax revenue in a country where just 3% of the population pays tax. Modi’s move led to immediate upheaval, with millions of people holding cash savings hurled into uncertainty and fear, especially the poor who do not have bank accounts and keep their money in cash. The Bandra-Worli sea link was jammed after toll booth operators refused to accept Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes.

A 14-year-old boy was killed while posing for a selfie with a passing train at Mira Road station. The police said the boy was taking a selfie using a phone gifted to him by his parents for his birthday. The boy was in the company of this friend, who chose not to report the incident to the police because they had lied to their parents about their location, the police said.

On November 4, Mohammed Shabbir Ahmed Khan’s parents gifted him a mobile phone. The police said Mohammed called his friend Faisal and they decided to go to Joggers’ Park in Mira Road to take selfies. On the way, however, Mohammed’s cycle developed a puncture so they decided to go the train station instead, but didn’t inform their parents.

The police said while Mohammed was trying to take a selfie on one of the station’s platforms, a train knocked him down. The train’s loco pilot informed the Mira Road GRP about the incident, who took Mohammed’s body to Tembha Civic Hospital for a post-mortem. As the body was unrecognisable, the police concluded it was a 35-year-old man, the police said. Meanwhile, Mohammed’s parents registered a kidnapping case at Naya Nagar police station after their son did not come home for two days.

“The Tembha Civic hospital called us to tell us the body of a 35-year-old man had been found at Mira Road station. We told Mohammed’s parents this, but since he was 14, they did not come to the morgue to identify the body,” said police inspector R Jadhav, Naya Nagar police station.