Former India cricket captain Kapil Dev is facing the heat from the IT department. Dev and his wife purchased shares of a company at a heavily discounted rate, documents accessed by The Quint show.
The company is question is owned by an associate of Yadav Singh – the tainted former Chief Engineer of Noida Authority, who is currently facing several corruption charges.
An IT department internal report directs the concerned officer to send a notice seeking an explanation from Dev and others for the transaction. It further says,
The assessing officer is advised to reopen the cases of incumbent shareholders namely Deepraj Singh Sethi, Deviderjeet Singh Sethi, Kapil Dev and Romi Dev for assessment u/s 148 of IT Act 1961 to assess the income from other sources involving the deeming provisions of section 56 (2)(vii)(c) of IT Act 1961.
The concerned IT officials were tight-lipped when we reached out to them and said such information cannot be put in public domain. They also said this information cannot be shared even under RTI.
Dev in his defence told The Quint that the income tax department has not contacted him on this matter and he did nothing wrong.
I don’t own the shares of the company anymore. I don’t understand why someone would sell me shares of a company at a lower price. Yadav Singh can do me a favour by selling the company at a cheap price but in exchange what favour can I do for him? I am just a cricketer. So far no one from income tax department has contacted me.Kapil Dev, Former Captain, Indian Cricket Team
According to the IT department report, Dev and his wife Romi Dev with two others were the shareholders of the company named Business Bay Corporate Parks Private Limited. Dev and others brought the shares of the company worth around Rs 6 crore when the actual cost, as per the book value, was Rs 32 crore.
Connection Between Kapil Dev and Yadav Singh’s Business Empire
Yadav Singh and his associates have invested their ill-gotten money into three different business groups.
- Yadav Singh Group - Owned by Yadav Singh and his wife.
- Maconns Group - Owned by Singh’s business associates Rajinder Manocha, Rajesh Kumar Manocha and Namrata Manocha
- Meenu Group - Owned by Singh’s business associates Anil Peshawari and Meenakshi Peshawari.
In 2008, the owner of Maconns Group, Rajesh Manocha and his wife Namrata Manocha bought a company named Business Bay Corporate Parks Private Limited. The company bought a plot in Noida Sector 65 worth Rs 4.50 crore.
In 2013, the Manochas sold 4,14,000 shares of this company to Kapil Dev, his wife and two others for Rs 5,79,60,000. Out of this, Kapil Dev held 1,55,500 shares and his wife owned 51,500.
IT Dept Questions Why Shares Were Sold at a Cheaper Rate
According to the IT department report, the shares of the company were sold to Kapil Dev and others Rs 140 per share as opposed to the market value of Rs 438.70.
The report also mentions that the net worth of the company as on the date of transfer of the shares was derived on the basis of book value of the assets. However, the real net worth of the company would have been much higher after a valuation of assets.
The IT department is probing why shares were sold at a cheaper rate and if the transaction was aimed at tax evasion.
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