AHMEDABAD:
Mahesh Shah
, the 67-year-old Ahmedabad real estate dealer who confessed to a proxy disclosure of Rs13,860 crore of unaccounted wealth for his influential contacts under the Centre’s
Income Declaration Scheme 2016 (IDS-2016), has put the income tax (I-T) department in a tight spot. Stung by the racket, the department will put similar IDS disclosures under the scanner to look at such cases of misuse.
I-T officials conceded that an extensive probe will be launched against all those who may have tried to misguide the department during the IDS drive.
I-T department has found itself in an embarrassing situation after it came to light that I-T officials had not verified Shah’s details when he volunteered for IDS.
After Shah’s explosive confession on Saturday, that the mammoth amount was not his and he was obliging close contacts by making the disclosure for a commission, the I-T department will now scrutinize other IDS declarations to see whether these have been made by the disclosers themselves or as proxies for other persons.