Income-Tax authorities are set to initiate criminal action against realtor Mahesh Shah and his Chartered Accountant (CA) Tehmul Sethna for filing a “false” declaration of Rs. 13,860 crore black money under the Centre’s Income Disclosure Scheme (IDS).

Mr. Shah had declared unaccounted-for cash amounting to Rs. 13,860 crore but vanished after filing the IDS application. He had claimed that the money he disclosed was not his and he did it to earn commission. He claimed the money belonged to politicians, builders, bureaucrats and businessmen and he would name them before the tax authorities. However, I-T officials said Mr. Shah and his CA have not given any name despite several rounds of interrogation.

“Mr. Shah has not revealed any names so far. Soon a criminal complaint will be filed against him and his CA who accompanied him to file the false declaration,” said B.D. Gupta, Principal Chief Commissioner of Income-Tax, Gujarat. #casansaar (The Hindu)