+ W.p.(C) v. Deputy Commissioner Of Income Tax Central Circle-14 Delhi & Ors

$~54 to 60 IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Judgment delivered on: 18.02.2025 + W.P.(C) 11156/2023 & CM APPL. 43353/2023 (STAY) SHIV PARKASH BANSAL .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Ruchesh Sinha and Mr. Prakash Sinha, Advs. versus DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX CENTRAL CIRCLE-14 DELHI & ORS. .....Respondents .....Respondents Through: Mr. Vipul Agrawal, SSC. 55 + W.P.(C) 11157/2023 & CM APPL. 43356/2023 (INTERIM RELIEF) SHIV PARKASH BANSAL .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Ruchesh Sinha and Mr. Prakash Sinha, Advs. versus DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX, CENTRAL CIRCLE-14, DELHI & ORS. .....Respondents Through: Mr. Vipul Agrawal, SSC. 56 + W.P.(C) 11185/2023 & CM APPL. 43544/2023 (INTERIM RELIEF) SHIV PARKASH BANSAL .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Ruchesh Sinha and Mr. Prakash Sinha, Advs. versus Signature Not Verified DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX CENTAL CIRCLE-14 DELHI & ORS. .....Respondents Through: Mr. Vipul Agrawal, SSC. .....Respondents 57 + W.P.(C) 11192/2023 & CM APPL. 43557/2023 (INTERIM RELIEF) SHIV PARKASH BANSAL .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Ruchesh Sinha and Mr. Prakash Sinha, Advs. versus DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX CENTRAL CIRCLE-14 DELHI & ORS. .....Respondents Through: Mr. Vipul Agrawal, SSC. 58 + W.P.(C) 11193/2023 & CM APPL. 43559/2023 (INTERIM RELIEF) SHIV PARKASH BANSAL .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Ruchesh Sinha and Mr. Prakash Sinha, Advs. versus DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX CENTRAL CIRCLE-14 DELHI & ORS. .....Respondents Through: Mr. Vipul Agrawal, SSC. 59 + W.P.(C) 11194/2023 & CM APPL. 43561/2023 (INTERIM RELIEF) SHIV PARKASH BANSAL .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Ruchesh Sinha and Mr. Prakash Sinha, Advs. versus DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX CENTAL CIRCLE-14 & ORS. .....Respondents Through: Mr. Vipul Agrawal, SSC. 60 + W.P.(C) 11197/2023 & CM APPL. 43566/2023 (INTERIM RELIEF) SHIV PARKASH BANSAL .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Ruchesh Sinha and Mr. Prakash Sinha, Advs. versus DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX CENTAL CIRCLE-14 DELHI & ORS. .....Respondents .....Respondents Through: Mr. Vipul Agrawal, SSC. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE YASHWANT VARMAHON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HARISH VAIDYANATHAN SHANKAR J U D G M E N T YASHWANT VARMA, J. (Oral) 1.The writ petitioners by way of the present petitions seek to assail the initiation of action under Section 153C of the Income Tax 1Act, 1961. The individual writ petitions pertain to Assessment Years[2]details whereof are set forth hereinbelow: - 1 Act 2 AYs W.P.(C) 11156/2023 & connected matters 2.The petitioner’s solitary ground of challenge to the initiation of action under Section 153C proceeds on the premise that the material gathered had no correlation or connection with the individuals who were subjected to the search. They would thus contend that in the absence of the evidence gathered being pertinent or relevant to the persons named in the search authorization, the commencement of action under Section 153C against the writ petitioners would not sustain. 3.For the purposes of appreciating the challenge which stands raised, we deem it apposite to take note of the following essential facts. 4.On 28 December 2020, a search action is stated to have been undertaken by the respondents. In terms of the warrant of authorization, we find that the same was drawn in the names of Mr. Ajay Jain, Mr. Saurabh Jain, Mr. Mahesh Goyal, Mr. Manoj Sehgal and Mr. Fakir Chand. The petitioners seek to lay stress on the panchnama of the said proceedings being confined to the searched persons, namely, Mr. Ajay Jain, Mr. Saurabh Jain, Mr. Mahesh Goyal, Mr. Manoj Sehgal and Mr. Fakir Chand. 3.For the purposes of appreciating the challenge which stands raised, we deem it apposite to take note of the following essential facts. 4.On 28 December 2020, a search action is stated to have been undertaken by the respondents. In terms of the warrant of authorization, we find that the same was drawn in the names of Mr. Ajay Jain, Mr. Saurabh Jain, Mr. Mahesh Goyal, Mr. Manoj Sehgal and Mr. Fakir Chand. The petitioners seek to lay stress on the panchnama of the said proceedings being confined to the searched persons, namely, Mr. Ajay Jain, Mr. Saurabh Jain, Mr. Mahesh Goyal, Mr. Manoj Sehgal and Mr. Fakir Chand. 5.During the course of that search operation, premises numbered as ND-8, Pitampura, Delhi was also included. These were premises which belonged to the writ petitioners. In the course of the search of those premises, the respondents are stated to have unearthed cash amounting to INR 18,00,000/-, jewellery and other material as also a locker held in the name of Mr. Shiv Prakash Bansal (one of the writ petitioners before us) maintained in the Pitampura Branch of the Punjab National Bank. 6.On 06 October 2022, a notice under Section 153C came to be issued to the writ petitioner for AY 2015-16. For the purpose of commencement of action under the aforenoted provision, the Assessing Officer[3] of the petitioner is stated to have drawn the following Satisfaction Note: - “Satisfaction Note drawn for initiation of proceedings u/s 153C of the IT Act, 1961 in the case of Sh. Shiv Prakash Bansal (PAN: ) for the AY 2015-16 to 2021-22 1. A search and seizure action under section 132(1) of the Income Tax Act was carried out in the case of Shiv Prakash Bansal, Saurabh Gupta, Mahesh Goyal, Manoj Sehgal, Fakir Chand & Others at the premises situated at ND-8, Pitampura, Delhi - 110034 on 28.12.2020. It was found that Shiv Prakash Bansal S/o Sh. RN Bansal R/o - ND-8, Pitampura, Delhi - 110034 having PAN , was engaged in huge cash transactions and handling of unaccounted cash. The suspicions were substantiated from the evidences found and seizure during the course of the search action. 2. During the course of search at the above said premises, cash and jewellery, incriminating documents in the form of digital evidences in the form of whatsapp chats and excel sheets such as "SKY" and "BANK" containing cash transactions pertaining to Shiv Prakash Bansal were found and seized. The same are discussed in the 3 AO following paragraphs: 3. During the course of Search & Seizure action at the premises situated at ND-8, Pitampura, Delhi - 110034, cash amounting to Rs. 20,54,600/- was found from the residence of Sh. Shiv Prakash Bansal. He was given an opportunity to explain the source of the said cash and to substantiate the same. However, he was unable to explain the source, or to justify how the cash came to be found from the premises. Consequently, an amount of Rs.18,00,000/- was seized from the premises and deposited in the PD account and statement of Sh. Shiv Kumar Bansal was recorded. Further, during the course of post search enquiries, statement of Sh. Shiv Kumar Bansal was again recorded on 17-06-21 wherein he was again failed to offer any explanation to the source of the cash seized during the course of the search action. 3. During the course of Search & Seizure action at the premises situated at ND-8, Pitampura, Delhi - 110034, cash amounting to Rs. 20,54,600/- was found from the residence of Sh. Shiv Prakash Bansal. He was given an opportunity to explain the source of the said cash and to substantiate the same. However, he was unable to explain the source, or to justify how the cash came to be found from the premises. Consequently, an amount of Rs.18,00,000/- was seized from the premises and deposited in the PD account and statement of Sh. Shiv Kumar Bansal was recorded. Further, during the course of post search enquiries, statement of Sh. Shiv Kumar Bansal was again recorded on 17-06-21 wherein he was again failed to offer any explanation to the source of the cash seized during the course of the search action. 4. Further, during the course of Search & Seizure action at the -–premises situated at ND8, Pitampura, Delhi 110034, jewellery -valued at Rs. 1,22,44,522/ was found and during the operation of lockers jewellery valued at Rs. 57,90,589/- was found from the lockers. In all, total jewellery amounting to Rs. 1,80,35,111/- was found in the possession of the assesses and his family members viz his wife, his two sons and two daughter-in-laws, his unmarried daughter, his mother, his grandson and two granddaughters. As per the calculation made in accordance with directions of the CBDT dated 1[st] December 2016, jewellery of 254.69 grams with a value of Rs. 12,33,576/- was found to be in excess of the threshold provided for release by the Board. The assessee was given an opportunity to explain the source of the remaining jewellery during the course of the search on 30.12.2020. 4.1 The assessee was given another opportunity to explain the source of jewellery amounting to Rs. 1,80,35,111/- during the course of the lifting of restraint at the residence on 19.02.2021. However, he was not able to satisfactorily explain the source thereof, and hence the said jewellery amounting to Rs. 12,33,576/- was seized. 5. Further, during the course of search 16 GB SanDisk Pen Drive (Annexure- A1) pertain and relate to Sh. Shiv Prakash Bansal was found and seized. This pen drive contains 10 number of excel sheets containing details of financial transactions (as part of a workbook). The sheet wise nature of the details recorded is as follows: (i) SKY - Details of date wise cash inflow and outflow W.P.(C) 11156/2023 & connected matters Signature Not Verified referring to the name of the parties from whom cash has been received and to whom cash has been paid. (ii) BANK – Details ofdate wise fund inflow and outflow from different parties in two bank accounts namely Amit Industries and K.G Cool Enterprises. (iii) DJ- Noting of transaction with 'DJ' - receipt of amounts from 'DJ' on different dates. (iv) AB Exp- Petty expenses of office. (v) AB - Record of transactions on 26-09-2020. (vi) Nikhil JP - Transactions on 03-06-2020 and 04-06-2020. (vii) QTY - Some transaction, details of which are not present in the sheet. (viii) SPB- Petty expenses with the heading 'Uncle Ji'. (ix) Manoj - Petty expenses with the remark 'Sandeep ji'. (x) Sheet 1 -Record of salary disbursement in the month of November, 2020. 5.1 Out of these work sheets, major details are recorded in two sheets. One sheet named 'SKY' mentioned at (i) above contains date wise and party wise entry of cash transactions and the other sheet named 'Bank' mentioned at (ii) above contains transactions among the parties, in the nature of RTGS or other mode of bank transfer. A sample sheet from 'SKY' is presented below:- 5.2 The 'RCVD' column contains the entries of cash received and W.P.(C) 11156/2023 & connected matters Signature Not Verified the 'PAID' column contains the entries of cash paid. 'FROM/TO' column contains the corresponding parties from whom either cash has been received or to whom cash has been paid. (ix) Manoj - Petty expenses with the remark 'Sandeep ji'. (x) Sheet 1 -Record of salary disbursement in the month of November, 2020. 5.1 Out of these work sheets, major details are recorded in two sheets. One sheet named 'SKY' mentioned at (i) above contains date wise and party wise entry of cash transactions and the other sheet named 'Bank' mentioned at (ii) above contains transactions among the parties, in the nature of RTGS or other mode of bank transfer. A sample sheet from 'SKY' is presented below:- 5.2 The 'RCVD' column contains the entries of cash received and W.P.(C) 11156/2023 & connected matters Signature Not Verified the 'PAID' column contains the entries of cash paid. 'FROM/TO' column contains the corresponding parties from whom either cash has been received or to whom cash has been paid. 5.3 The entries for transactions have been maintained partywise and date wise by Shiv Prakash Bansal. Transactions from 1-07-2020 to 28-12-2020 (date of search) have been recorded in this Sheet named 'SKY'. For the entire period, quantum for each name in the 'FROM/TO" column was calculated as part of the post search enquiries and was tabulated in order to arrive at party wise quantum of transactions. 5.4 Further, certain mobiles phones belonging to family members as well as staff working at the premises of the Shiv Prakash Bansal had also been cloned as digital evidences. A mobile named 'Huawei Y7 prime' was seized from one Amber Madan and the cloned data was annexurised as A13. Amber Madan is an employee of Shiv Prakash Bansal who maintains record in the excel workbook 'SKY' as per the direction of Shiv Prakash Bansal. It was found from the data of the said phone that there was a whatsapp groupnamed 'Office' with members Ankur Bansal, DG, Manoj and Amber Madan. Ankur Bansal is the son of Shiv Prakash Bansal. DG and Manoj are the employees of Shiv Prakash Bansal as admitted by him in his statement dated 30-06-2021. In the group, transactions recorded in SKY worksheet have been discussed. Sample screenshot of the transactions is presented below. 5.5 The details in the whatsapp chat as shown in the above screenshot was tallied with the contents of the sheet SKY for the same date. It was found that the same transactions were entered in W.P.(C) 11156/2023 & connected matters the work sheet as shown below – 5.6 It was thus established beyond doubt that the entries made in the excel sheet not only belonged to Shiv Prakash Bansal but also that the same were actual transactions and could not be claimed as otherwise as was being claimed by Shiv Prakash Bansal during the course of the search action. 5.7 Further, during the course of the post search, statement of Sh. Shiv Prakash Bansal was again recorded under oath u/s 131 on 22-06-2021. In the statement, Sh. Bansal admitted that the pen drive and other annexures forming part of the Panchnama dated 30-12-21 seized from his premises at address ND-8, Near Darbari Lal School, Pitampura, Delhi-34 belonged to him, and the transactions contained therein pertained to his business and commercial activities. The same admission has also been made by his son, Ankur Bansal and his employee, Amber Madan in their statements recorded. Further, the assesee was shown the excel sheet named SKY and the entries contained therein and was asked to explain the same. In his reply he has stated that the entries pertain to record of cash transaction in respect of his business in agricultural commodities. The excerpt of his statement is presented below:- Q.22 What kind of data do you enter & store in the said Red SanDisk Pen Drive? Ans. I majorly maintain data related to my transactions in W.P.(C) 11156/2023 & connected matters Signature Not Verified Agricultural Commodities & Cryptocurrencies in an excel workbook stored in the Pen Drive. view of the above, there is no system of issuing or obtaining receipts for the goods bought or sold. Q.22 What kind of data do you enter & store in the said Red SanDisk Pen Drive? Ans. I majorly maintain data related to my transactions in W.P.(C) 11156/2023 & connected matters Signature Not Verified Agricultural Commodities & Cryptocurrencies in an excel workbook stored in the Pen Drive. view of the above, there is no system of issuing or obtaining receipts for the goods bought or sold. Q. 26 Every business transaction happens through Invoices and Receipts and due record for the same is maintained. How yours is an exception? Ans. As explained above that in our trade practice, there is no system of issuing or obtaining receipts for the goods bought or sold. We note down details of every transaction on rough Notepad on daily basis and once the business is finished for the day, these details are destroyed after a day or two as they no longer serve any purpose for us. However, the transactions are recorded date-wise in a worksheet named “SKY” of the Excel Workbook named “SKY.xlsx” stored in the said Pen Drive which was seized and annexurised as Annexure A1, during the course of Search & Seizure Action conducted at my residence, ND-8, Pitampura, Delhi – 34 on 28.12.2020. This worksheet named “SKY” serves as a cashbook for my business of Agricultural Commodities. The main purpose to maintain this record is to keep details of cash balance and not the detail sellers and buyers which is of no significance for me. 5.8 Since no evidence of any trading in agricultural commod ities was found either during the course of the search action or on perusal of the seized record, he was asked to provide evidences such as receipt of buying and selling, in support of his claim that the transactions pertained to his business activity of trading in agricultural commodities. However, he could not provide a single piece of evidence to back his claim of business in agro commodities. Excerpt of his statement arc presented below: Q. 24 Please provide the proof of carrying out the trade of Agricultural Commodities? Ans. I usually trade in Agricultural Commodities outside the Agricultural Mandi which is mostly carried out in cash. As such, there is no record available regarding this trade of Agricultural Commodities. Q. 25 Don’t you provide receipts or ask for receipts, as the case may be, for all the buying and selling of Agricultural commodities that takes place as part of your trade? W.P.(C) 11156/2023 & connected matters Signature Not Verified Ans. As per our trade practice, we do not hold any stock. As per practice followed, whenever a person, who could either be a customer or an agent or middleman, approaches us for purchase of goods, we procure the goods, on the basis of such requirements, either from the farmer or from the open market or from broker/middleman and get the goods delivered directly from Seller’s location to the buyers preferred location. Usually delivery takes place directly from Sellers location to the Buyer’s location. We do not have any warehouse or godo wn. In view of the above, there is no system of issuing or obtaining receipts for the goods bought or sold. Q. 26 Every business transaction happens through Invoices and Receipts and due record for the same is maintained. How yours is an exception? Signature Not Verified Ans. As per our trade practice, we do not hold any stock. As per practice followed, whenever a person, who could either be a customer or an agent or middleman, approaches us for purchase of goods, we procure the goods, on the basis of such requirements, either from the farmer or from the open market or from broker/middleman and get the goods delivered directly from Seller’s location to the buyers preferred location. Usually delivery takes place directly from Sellers location to the Buyer’s location. We do not have any warehouse or godo wn. In view of the above, there is no system of issuing or obtaining receipts for the goods bought or sold. Q. 26 Every business transaction happens through Invoices and Receipts and due record for the same is maintained. How yours is an exception? Ans. As explained above that in our trade practice, there is no system of issuing or obtaining receipts for the goods bought or sold. We note down details of every transaction on rough Notepad on daily basis and once the business is finished for the day, these details are destroyed after a day or two as they no longer serve any purpose for us. However, the transactions are recorded date-wise in a worksheet named “SKY” of the Excel Workbook named “SKY.xlsx” stored in the said Pen Drive which was seized and annexurised as Annexure A1, during the course of Search & Seizure Action conducted at my residence, ND-8, Pitampura, Delhi – 34 on 28.12.2020. This worksheet named “SKY” serves as a cashbook for my business of Agricultural Commodities. The main purpose to maintain this record is to keep details of cash balance and not the detail sellers and buyers which is of no significance for me. Q. 29 Do you maintain any Books of Accounts pertaining to your business of Agricultural Commodities? If yes, please specify where are these Books of Accounts kept? Ans. No Books of Accounts pertaining to my business of Agricultural Commodities are maintained by me. Q. 30 Every business maintains proper Books of Accounts viz. Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss Account etc. Please state how your business is an exception to this? Ans. In our business there is very low margin and hence, we do not have any formal system of maintaining any Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss Account etc. We only maintain details W.P.(C) 11156/2023 & connected matters Signature Not Verified of payments received and payments made in a Cashbook which is stored in a Pen Drive, as explained in Answer to Q. 26 of this statement. Q. 31 During the course of Search & Seizure Action conducted at your premise, ND-8, Pitamputa, Delhi-34 on 28-12-2020, not a single piece of document was found pertaining to your said business of Agricultural Commodities. How can you claim that you have been carrying this trading of Agricultural Commodities from this premises? Ans. As explained earlier that in our trade practice, we note down details of every transaction on rough Notepad on daily basis and once the business is finished for the day, these said details are destroyed after a day or two. Therefore, for this reason only, no document was found during the Search & Seizure action. Signature Not Verified of payments received and payments made in a Cashbook which is stored in a Pen Drive, as explained in Answer to Q. 26 of this statement. Q. 31 During the course of Search & Seizure Action conducted at your premise, ND-8, Pitamputa, Delhi-34 on 28-12-2020, not a single piece of document was found pertaining to your said business of Agricultural Commodities. How can you claim that you have been carrying this trading of Agricultural Commodities from this premises? Ans. As explained earlier that in our trade practice, we note down details of every transaction on rough Notepad on daily basis and once the business is finished for the day, these said details are destroyed after a day or two. Therefore, for this reason only, no document was found during the Search & Seizure action. 5.9 Shiv Prakash Bansal was made aware of the fact that total inflow and outflow of funds of his operation as per the records maintained in 'SKY' worksheet amounts to Rs. 265,19,72,535/- and Rs. 206,84,58,730/-. He was also confronted of the fact that how he did not know a single person's address despite having crores of transactions with them and their contacts having been stored in the mobile of his son Ankur Bansal. In his reply he stated that his modus of business does not require him to know about his clients. He further refused to agree with the figures of inflow and outflow as reflected in the excel sheet and as pointed to him while submitting his own version/ explanation as to how the same has to be understood. However, he expressed his inability to provide details of the people claiming that after the search action on him, they have discontinued their association with him. The excerpt of his statement is presented below: Q. 57 I am now showing you Exhibit-D (41 Pages) which contains all the entries made in the Worksheet “SKY” of the Excel Workbook named “SKY.xlsx” from 01.07.2020 to 28.12.2020. Please acknowledge the total inflow of Rs. 265,19,72,535/- and total outflow of Rs. 206,84,58,730/-, done from 01.07.2020 to 28.12.2020 and also identify all of those people who you know from the “FROM/TO” column of the tables shown in Exhibit-D. Ans. I acknowledge that I have seen Exhibit – D (41 pages) containing all the entries made in the Worksheet “SKY” of the Excel Workbook named “SKY.xlsx” from 01.07.2020 to 28.12.2020. However, the figures of total inflow and outflow W.P.(C) 11156/2023 & connected matters Signature Not Verified are incorrect. I am submitting the correct figures of total inflow & outflow alongwith the explanations about the entries and the entire Worksheet “SKY” as Annexure – 1 to this statement. I am unable to provide any details of about any of these people as mentioned in the “FROM/TO” column of the tables shown in Exhibit – D. After the search operations, all the persons have stoppe d doing business with me and that is why I discontinued the business and I am no longer in contact with any of these persons. However, I will try to reconnect with them and provide you the maximum possible details tomorrow. 5.10 Shiv Prakash Bansal was asked about correlation between the conversation about the transaction in Whatsapp group “Office” found from Amber Madan’s phone ‘Huawei Y7 Prime’ and the transactions recorded in Worksheet “SKY”. He was shown entry wise conversation in Whatsapp group “Office” and Worksheet “SKY”. In his reply he stated that day to day transactions have been discussed in the Whatsapp group and the same has been recorded in the worksheet “SKY”. Excerpts of his statement is presented below: 5.10 Shiv Prakash Bansal was asked about correlation between the conversation about the transaction in Whatsapp group “Office” found from Amber Madan’s phone ‘Huawei Y7 Prime’ and the transactions recorded in Worksheet “SKY”. He was shown entry wise conversation in Whatsapp group “Office” and Worksheet “SKY”. In his reply he stated that day to day transactions have been discussed in the Whatsapp group and the same has been recorded in the worksheet “SKY”. Excerpts of his statement is presented below: Q.64 I am now showing you a message sent by the user ( @s.whatsapp.net Manoj Ji(admin)) in the Whatsapp group “Office”, referred to in the previous question, screenshot of which is given below. The message reads “5.325 rcvd from ankurkapoor”. On referring to the entries made in the Worksheet “SKY” on 26.12.2020 “(table produced below), it is seen that the entry in the 10[th] row (highlighted) shows “Ankur Kapoor” in the FROM/TO column and 532500 in the RCVD column. Please explain the relation between this message in the whatsapp group “office” and the corresponding entry made in the worksheet ‘SKY’. Ans. As stated earlier by me, the table containing the entries made on 26.12.2020 in the Worksheet “SKY” pertain to my business of Agricultural Commodities. The entry made in Row No. 10 seems to correspond to sale of Agricultural Commodities worth Rs. 5,32,500 to one Ankur Kapoor who must be one of my customers. 5.11 As can be seen above assessee was asked about the message ‘5.325 rcvd from Ankur Kapoor’ and corresponding entry in worksheet “SKY”. Further he was asked to provide details of Ankur Kapoor. In reply the assessee stated that he destroyed the rough records of transactions with clients after a day or two of the transaction taking place. He was further asked that despite recording each transaction against the name of the clients and having conversation regarding the same in a designated Whatsapp group “Office”, why he was not able to provide the details of the individuals. He again gave the clichéd reply that the details of his customers were not important for his business operations. The excerpts of his statement are as follows – Q. 65 Please provide details including full name, Address, Name of their business concern etc. of the customer Ankur Kapoor, referred to in the previous question. W.P.(C) 11156/2023 & connected matters Signature Not Verified Signature Not Verified Ans. In my business of trading Agricultural Commodities, I often meet many people who are customers/suppliers/Brokers/Middleman etc. but I cannot remember each and every one of them. Therefore, I am unable to recall exactly about this customer Ankur Kapoor. Moreover, as per our trade practice, once the trading is finished for the day, the records of transactions including the customer details noted on a rough notepad are destroyed after a day or two as they no longer serve any purpose for us. Therefore, no record of customer details is retained. Due to the aforesaid reasons, I am unable to provide the above-mentioned details. Q. 66 On perusal of the entries made in the worksheet “SKY” and the corresponding messages in the whatsapp group “Office”, it is evident that you are following a very organized system for recording every transaction happened with your clients. Then how is it possible that you are unable to provide details about your clients, who in this particular transaction is Ankur Kapoor? Q. 66 On perusal of the entries made in the worksheet “SKY” and the corresponding messages in the whatsapp group “Office”, it is evident that you are following a very organized system for recording every transaction happened with your clients. Then how is it possible that you are unable to provide details about your clients, who in this particular transaction is Ankur Kapoor? Ans. As state earlier by me, since the records of business transactions including the inflow and outflow of cashflow is of prime importance to my business, these are maintained in a very organized way in the Worksheet “SKY” and the same are also discussed in the Whatsapp group “Office”. However, the details of our customers are not a significant aspect of our business operations and therefore, customer details are noted on a rough notepad, at the time of trade, are destroyed after a day or two as they no longer serve any purpose for us. For this very reason, customer details are neither recorded in the Worksheet “SKY” nor in the Whatsapp group “Office”. 5.12 The Assessee acknowledged of the fact that the total inflow and total outflow amount to Rs. 265,19,72,535/- and Rs. 206,84,58,730/- as per the transactions recorded in Worksheet “SKY” he challenged and submitted the following Profit & Loss Account along with the working: 5.13 Hence, as per his submission, the assessee Sh. Shiv Prakash Bansal has declared a profit of Rs.27,21,980/- out of his claimed business of Agro trading. The assessee has also declared that the percentage of profit earned by him on facilitating these transactions of sale and purchase is .25 to .30%. However, the claim of the assesse was not found tenable since, he has not been able to provide evidences in support of the same despite having been provided adequate opportunities. The only fact which is certain is that cash is received and paid as recorded in the excel sheet SKY.2 5.14 The Assessee has not been able to provide a single piece of document regarding his business in agro commodities, has not been able to identify the clients and besides also could not provide adequate explanation for the difference in the closing balance for a day and opening balance in the next day. Looking at these scenarios it appears that Assessee has presented a cooked-up story of agro trading to mislead the department. Therefore, it can be depicted that the assessee is engaged in the activity of movement of cash. The same is in line with the earlier information available with the Department based on which the search action was initiated on the assessee. 5.15 The Worksheet SKY has to be interpreted simply by assuming all the “RCVD” entries to be receipt and all the “PAID” entries to be payment. This is the only details that is W.P.(C) 11156/2023 & connected matters Signature Not Verified Signature Not Verified recorded in the relevant excel sheet while the rest of the details as claimed by the Assessee are not part of the same. So, the total receipt is Rs, 265,19,72,535/- and the total payment of Rs. 206,84,58,730/-. This implies that Rs. 2,06,84,58,730/- is the amount that has been received and given by the assessee as part of the cash mobilization. According to the market scenario, the commission in the activity of facilitation of market move ment in cash can be as high as 1 percent of the cash moved. In the present case, the cash moved (Received and given) is Rs. 2,06,84,58,730/- as per the record contained in the sheet. The income generated on this amount @1% is Rs. 2,06,84,587/- which has not been recorded in any books of account. The difference between the receipt and the payment comes out to be Rs.58,35,13,805/- are unexplained advances with the assessee, Sh. Shiv Prakash Bansal. 5.16 On analyzing another Excel sheet named 'Bank' in the Workbook named 'SKY' which contains details of date wise fund inflow and outflow from different parties in two bank accounts namely Amit Industries and KG Cool Enterprises. The transactions maintained in Excel sheet named 'BANK' was matched with the transactions registered in bank account statements. The same is illustrated below for reference. Screenshots are presented below: 5.17 As seen in the first screenshot, the Entry 1 & Entry 2, marked in the screenshot, denote the amount of money received by K G Cool on 08.12.2020 from Wunderbaked and similarly, Entry 3 & Entry 4, marked in the screenshot, denote the amount of money received by K G Cool on 08.12.2020 from Prateek Jaiswal. These entries in the first screenshot match with the transactions registered in the bank account of KG Cool on 08.12.2020, as can be seen in the second screenshot where the corresponding entries (Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3, Entry 4) have been marked. Similarly, it can be seen in the 'TO' Column that amount have been paid to Ratan Traders, Vintage forex, Liquid studios and Green Apple logistics. Same Transactions can be found in the screenshot of Bank Statement: 5.18 Transactions recorded in BANK excel sheet has also been found in Ambar Madan's Whatsapp conversation. Amber Madan is a trusted employee of Shiv Prakash Bansal who helps him in his operations. During the search operation, two phones were seized which belongs to Amber Madan. One of the phones was Huawei Y7 prime marked as Annexure A13. In that phone Amber Madan was a member of a Whatsapp group called 'office bank'. In this group members (Amber Madan, Ankur Bansal, Manoj, DG) have conversation regarding transactions done through Amit and KG Cool Enterprises bank accounts. Screenshots of Whatsapp conversation corroborating transactions done through bank and registered in BANK excel sheet are presented below: 5.19 Above are two messages posted by one Manoj ji in whatsapp group 'office bank'. The same transactions can be found in Bank excel sheet. Screenshot is presented below: 5.20 Summons was sent to various parties (out of the parties identified) who have transacted significantly with the bank accounts Amit industries and KG Cool enterprises. However, most of the summons were unserved with the remark that the addresses did not exist. However, replies were received from Wunderbaked Technologies and Vetofiat Technologies pvt ltd. In their reply, they submitted that they work as payment aggregators and funds have been transferred through them to Amit Industries and KG Cool Enterprises. So the common pattern that emerged out of the enquires into the transactions happening through the two accounts namely Amit Industries and KG Cool Enterprises is that there has been transfer of funds through payment aggregators as well as W.P.(C) 11156/2023 & connected matters Signature Not Verified Signature Not Verified other entities. W.P.(C) 11156/2023 & connected matters Signature Not Verified Signature Not Verified other entities. 5.21 Since, the transactions in these two bank accounts appeared suspect, and since the assessee had not provided any details regarding the same during the course of search action, the same was asked from the assessee as part of the post search proceedings. In his response, he stated that the transactions in the bank account relate to the trading in crypto currencies on behalf of his clients. On being asked about the modus of his trading as claimed by him, he stated that he gets the funds poo led from his customers who want to invest in crypto currencies. In the operation several wallets and bank accounts are involved which are managed by his employee Dinesh alias DG (who happens to be one of the members of the Whatsapp group “Office Bank” found in Amber Madan’s phone Huawei Y7 Prime where all the transactions found in excel sheet “Bank” has been discussed). After fund is pooled, Shiv Prakash Bansal directs 'DG' to buy crypto currencies and sell the crypto currency when the market is ripe. The proceeds of sale are channelized through Bank Accounts named Amit Industries and KG Cool Enterprises to respective clients. As per the statement of Shiv Prakash Bansal he did not know the technicalities of crypto trading. His job was limited to studying the crypto market whereas 'DG' manages all the wallets used for crypto trading and the bank accounts linked to that. As per Shiv Prakash Bansal 'DG' is also the person who manages the two accounts namely Amit Industries and KG Cool Enterprises. On further being asked about the details of DG Shiv Prakash stated that DG has fled the place after search action and Shiv Prakash has lost all the contacts with him. Shiv Prakash was exhibited content from worksheet 'Bank' to explain each entry appearing in the worksheet BANK for further clarity. Shiv Prakash Bansal was asked to provide the details of his clients on behalf of whom he has traded in crypto currency. However, he could not provide the details of a single customer/client since the details were maintained by his employee who was handling the wallets and the bank accounts for him, and who has fled the place. Excerpt of his statements are presented below: Q.67 You are now being shown the clones data displaying entire worksheet named “BANK” of the Excel Workbook named “SKY.xlsx” stored in the Pen Drive mentioned in the Q. No. 17 of this statement. Please specify who has made these entries in the Worksheet “BANK” and what do all the entries made in different columns of the worksheet “BANK” denote alongwith its significance? Ans. Yes, I acknowledge that I have gone through the entire worksheet “BANK” of the excel workbook named “SKY.xlsx”. Sometimes, I have made these entries and sometimes, these entries have been made by Amber Madan on my directions. These entries correspond to the transactions related to my business of Crypto Trading carried out on different dates on behalf of my clients. The entries in the RCVD column correspond to realization of funds from Crypto Trading and entries in the PAID column correspond to repayment of funds to clients which were invested in the Cryptocurrency. Q. 68 Following are the 16 entries made for the date 15.09.2020 in the worksheet “BANK” of the Excel Workbook named “SKY.xlsx”, please explain what does each of these entries denote and what is its significance? Ans. As stated earlier by me, these entries correspond to transactions related to my business of Crypto Trading, carried out on 15.09.2020 on behalf of my clients. The entries in the RCVD column correspond to the realization of funds from Crypto Trading and entries in the PAID column correspond to repayment of funds to clients which were invested in Cryptocurrency. Q. 69 Please explain what does the columns FROM and FROM/TO signifies in the table shown to you as part of previous question? Ans. The entries in the FROM column correspond to W.P.(C) 11156/2023 & connected matters Q. 68 Following are the 16 entries made for the date 15.09.2020 in the worksheet “BANK” of the Excel Workbook named “SKY.xlsx”, please explain what does each of these entries denote and what is its significance? Ans. As stated earlier by me, these entries correspond to transactions related to my business of Crypto Trading, carried out on 15.09.2020 on behalf of my clients. The entries in the RCVD column correspond to the realization of funds from Crypto Trading and entries in the PAID column correspond to repayment of funds to clients which were invested in Cryptocurrency. Q. 69 Please explain what does the columns FROM and FROM/TO signifies in the table shown to you as part of previous question? Ans. The entries in the FROM column correspond to W.P.(C) 11156/2023 & connected matters persons/entities through which the realization of funds from Crypto Trading has been done. The entries in the FROM/TO column correspond to the clients/entities to whom repayment of funds invested in Cryptocurrency has been made. Q. 70 Please explain in detail with narration, the entry made in the first row (S. No. 1) of the table with the header “AMIT 15.09.2020”, shown to you in the previous question, illustrating the meaning of each and every column of the table. Please also explain the details of the modus of your operation. Ans. “AMIT” denotes the bank account in the name of Amit Industries through which on 15.09.2020 proceeds of trading in Crypto Currency has been received and payment has been made to the parties who had invested in Crypto Currency. As it can be seen at S. No. 1 of the table in the previous question, Rs. 9,40,000 has been received In the bank account of Amit Industries through the Payment facilitator WUNDERBAKED and repayment of Rs. 1,31,614 has been done to SACHIN KUMAR who had invested in Crypto Currency through me. IT may be noted here that the payment received and the repayment done will not have one-to-one correspondence and the reason being, my clients ask me to invest in certain number or fraction of Cryptocurrencies and I invest in bulk. At the time of realization that is when the proceeds of sale of Crypto Currencies is received in Bank account Amit, amount is transferred in different amounts to different clients as proportionate to their investment in Crypto Currency. The modus operandi of my business is as follows: I do crypto-trading on behalf of my clients. I do not own any Cryptocurrency pertaining to the transactions entered in worksheet named “BANK” of the Workbook named “SKY.xlsx”. I have earned only commission income during such Crypto transaction on behalf of my clients. I study crypto market regularly to know the appropriate time of buying & selling of Crypto Currency so that I can maximize the profits of my clients. However, the technicalities and intricacies of Crypto business is not known to me. In the part of technicality, I am assisted by my employees Dinesh alias DG and Manoj. DG and Manoj are the custodian of 2 bank accounts named Amit Industries and KG Cool Enterprises through which realization of proceeds from sale of Crypto Currencies are done. DG and Manoj manage all the Crypto wallets and the fund flow. In this entire business, my job is limited to enabling a pool of funds by aggregating money from investors/clients, W.P.(C) 11156/2023 & connected matters Signature Not Verified direct DG and Manoj to invest the funds in Cryptocurrencies at appropriate time and direct him to sell the Cryptocurrencies at appropriate time. After the sale of Cryptocurrencies, the realized amount is transferred to respective clients as proportional to their initial investment. Q. 71 Following are the 13 entries made for the date 08.12.2020 in the worksheet “BANK” of the Excel Workbook named “SKY.xlsx”. Please explain what does each of these entries denote and what is its significance? W.P.(C) 11156/2023 & connected matters Signature Not Verified direct DG and Manoj to invest the funds in Cryptocurrencies at appropriate time and direct him to sell the Cryptocurrencies at appropriate time. After the sale of Cryptocurrencies, the realized amount is transferred to respective clients as proportional to their initial investment. Q. 71 Following are the 13 entries made for the date 08.12.2020 in the worksheet “BANK” of the Excel Workbook named “SKY.xlsx”. Please explain what does each of these entries denote and what is its significance? Ans. As stated earlier by me, these entries correspond to transactions related to my business of Crypto Trading, carried out on 08.12.2020 on behalf of my clients. The entries in the RCVD column correspond to the realization of funds from Crypto Trading and entries in the PAID column correspond to repayment of funds to clients which were invested in Cryptocurrency. Q. 75 If at all, the entire narrative w.r.t. the worksheet “SKY”, as stated by you in the earlier answers of this statement is to be believed, it is clearly evident that you are kingpin of this entire operation of Crypto Trading. Therefore, it is logically presumed that you must have knowledge about all the Crypto Wallets being used for investment and redemption of Crypto Currency on behalf of your clients. So please provide the details of all the crypto wallets being used by you or your team for trading of Crypto Currencies including Wallet ID, Name & Address of Wallet Holder, Name of the Exchange in which Wallet is registered etc. Ans. As stated earlier by me, in this entire operation of Crypto trading I am assisted by persons named Dinesh alias DG and Manoj. DG and Manoj are the person who mainly manage or handle the whole network and setup that is required for Cryptocurrency trading. They also manage and handle the different bank accounts which are used for trading in Cryptocurrency. In the entire operation, my job was limited to bringing in potential investors, studying the crypto market, directing DG or Manoj to buy and sell crypto currency according to the market sentiment. I don’t have any information regarding the wallets. The transaction in wallets is looked after by DG and Manoj and the information about the Wallet details, they only know. However, it may be stated here that I am spearheading the operation. I charge the commission of Rs. 500- 1000 for each bitcoin traded by me. Q. 76 I am reminding you that your statement is being recorded under oat h, and any false information provided by you or concealment of information by you, will attract penal provisions as per the Section 181 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 277 of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Do you wish to stand by your answer to the previous question that you don’t have a