After the high-profile hunt of political leaders and their benamis during the elections, Income Tax (IT) officials Bengaluru trained their guns on an auto rickshaw driver. In this case, the man raided was not a regular auto driver but someone who owns a home in an upscale villa community.
The tax sleuths raided Subramani's home after it was learnt that he bought a villa in Jatti Dwarkamai Villas on ECC Road in Whitefield area of the Silicon Valley worth Rs 1.6 crore. Subramani paid the full amount in cash for the purchase in 2018.
The IT officials questioned him on Wednesday after the department issued a notice asking him to furnish the source of income. The man, who bought the posh villa, had not filed his tax returns. The IT sleuths suspect that Subramani might be a benami holder of the villa.
It was alleged that a pot of gold and other documents were seized from the villa but the IT officials said that no cash or other evidence was seized from the house. The IT officials said that after getting a tip-off, the department wanted to know his source of income. They also said that no search operations were conducted in the villa and no arrest warrant has been issued on Subramani.
According to the reports, Subramani said that the house was gifted to him by an American lady for his services as an auto driver, after coming to know that he was financially unstable. ''She was struggling to get a cab or an autorickshaw. I stopped my auto and dropped her home. Again after a few days, she happened to get into my auto. She then asked me if I can offer the services whenever she called,'' Subramani explained, reports Bangalore Mirror.
The American lady got to know about his poor financial condition after she visited his rented house, where he was living with his wife and children. He said that she helped him by funding his children's education. She had also helped many auto drivers, said Subramani.
He also said that he had insisted on a small house but she directed him to buy a villa and transferred the required amount to make the purchase.
On April 16, the IT department sent a notice to the construction company of the villa, Jatti Engineering Pvt Ltd, to furnish copies of the ledgers and sale documents of the villa. According to the reports, the primary investigations by the IT sleuths had revealed that Subramani had links with top politicians including the BJP legislator from Mahadevapura, Aravind Limbavalli. But the MLA has denied any connection with Subramani.
Subramani also said that he has no links with the former minister and that he took a photo with the MLA when he had visited the area. However, the officials are investigating the matter. They are still trying to find out if the alleged woman had actually paid him money to buy the house.
