E-Paper
How MP egg seller, UP juice vendor got tax notice on over ₹50 crore they didn't earn
Families of both vendors have called on authorities to investigate the fraudulent use of their documents over the alleged erroneous tax notices.
Little did two humble egg and juice sellers from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh know they would get the biggest shock of their lives in the form of Income Tax (I-T) department notices demanding crores in dues—money they never saw, let alone earned.
An egg seller from Madhya Pradesh's Damoh district, Prince Suman, has hit headlines, over a notice claiming he owed the government ₹6 crore in Goods and Services Tax (GST) for a nearly ₹50-crore business he never knew existed.
In Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh, juice vendor Md Rahees received a similar notice demanding over ₹7.5 crore for “bogus” transactions in 2020-21.
How did the tax blunder happen
In the egg seller's case, the I-T notice revealed that "Prince Enterprises" was registered under his name in Delhi in 2022, involved in leather, wood, and iron trading, with hefty transactions over the last two years, according to an NDTV report.
"I only sell eggs on a cart. I have never been to Delhi, let alone start a company there," the report quoted Suman, who lives in Pathariya Nagar. His father, Shri Dhar Suman, added, "If we really had ₹50 crore, why would we struggle to meet daily expenses?"
The family suspects fraud, with their lawyer alleging that Suman's personal documents were misused. "Someone has used Prince's documents by fraud. We have approached both the police and tax authorities to probe the case," the lawyer was quoted as saying.
Tax notice to juice seller
Juice vendor Md Rahees, who received a similar notice demanding over ₹7.5 crore for “bogus” transactions in 2020-21, is also scrambling for answers and has sought government's help.
"I don't know why this notice has been issued. I only sell juice. I have never seen so much money… I request the government to help me. I am a poor man. I should not be implicated in a false case," the report quoted Rahees.
Rahees’s mother also weighed in: "We struggle for our daily meals... If we had so much money, why would our son have to work so hard?"
Sources cited in the report suggested that Rahees’s personal documents may have been used for fraudulent donations in the 2022 Punjab assembly elections.
Both families have called on authorities to investigate the fraudulent use of their documents over the alleged erroneous tax notices.
