The Income Tax Department is investigating the sources of income of a Bengaluru-based auto driver, Nallurhalli Subramani, who lives in a villa worth Rs 1.6 crore in Jatti Dwarkamai Villas – a gated community in Whitefield, reported The Indian Express.
“We had shortlisted sources from where unaccounted money would come into play for the elections. As soon as this case reached us, we decided to go forward and search his property at Jatti Dwarakamai in Mahadevapura of Whitefield,” an official told The Indian Express on the condition of anonymity.
As per The News Minute, I-T sources stated that Subramani had bought the villa last year by paying Rs. 1.6 crore in cash. According to sources in the department, the complainant allegedly claimed that Subramani never filed tax returns, and hence, may have concealed the money in benami accounts.
The investigation is under process and a notice has been issued under Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988.
“However, all documents of the property indicate this is not a benami case as he has furnished appropriate proof,” the official told The Indian Express, adding that it can only be confirmed once the investigation is over.
Meanwhile, it is speculated that the auto driver was linked to Mahadevapura MLA Arvind Limbavali, who is the general secretary of BJP Karnataka, as he was seen in a photograph with Limbavali. Subramani’s villa is located in the same constituency.
The Indian Express reported that Limbavali denied having any personal contact with Subramni. Limbavali, in a Facebook Live video, asked people to “spare him from such embarrassment”. Further, he said that he met Subramani at a public function a long time ago and accusations should not be based on such things.
Sources claim that Subramani got the money to buy his house from an old woman based out of Bengaluru. As per The News Minute, Subramani said, “She was struggling to get a cab or rickshaw on a rainy day, I dropped her home that day. I also dropped her back home on another occasion. Since then, we had an agreement that she would pay me to drop her and pick her up whenever she needed transportation. We became friends and when she heard that my family and I were struggling financially, she offered to buy us a house.”
On 16 April, the I-T Department had requested Jatti Engineering Pvt Ltd, the company that constructed Subramani’s villa, to produce copies of the ledgers related to the sale of the posh villa to the auto driver, reported The News Minute.
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