E-Paper
'Taxmen didn't visit AB in hospital'
No tax notice was served on Amitabh Bachchan during the period he was in hospital in Mumbai recently, CBDT said.
No tax notice was served on Amitabh Bachchan during the period he was in hospital in Mumbai recently, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said on Monday.
“No letter was sent to him after he was hospitalised demanding payment of tax,” the CBDT statement said. “Notices and letters to Bachchan were issued on November 17 and November 25, 2005, requesting the payments of the amounts. It is understood that he was hospitalised on November 28, 2005.”
The statement clarified that the letters were sent to Bachchan’s residential address by speed post.
In an interview published in a national daily on Sunday, the superstar had claimed he was visited in the ICU of Lilavati Hospital by taxmen flaunting a CBDT communication. They had allegedly demanded payment within three days, and threatened him with “coercive action” if he did not comply.
“Bhai, darr lagta hai,” Bachchan was quoted as saying. “To be told you pay within the deadline or else we will start coercive action against you… I was in the ICU and actually wrote out cheques from there,” he said. According to Bachchan, the men had told him they had “orders from Delhi”, and “aapkamamla bahut sensitive hai”.
