NEW DELHI: Cricketer-turned-politician, Punjab Tourism Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu has been accused of non-payment of tax dues amounting to almost Rs 52 Lakh. The Income Tax department has seized two of his bank accounts within Delhi after he failed to produce bills of expenditure declared in his tax returns filed for FY15. Sources said he was reminded by the department to furnish the bills, but he ignored the warnings.
Sidhu had reportedly given a breakup of his expenses. He had cited Rs 38.24 Lakh in travel, Rs 28 Lakh as dress expenses, Rs 47 Lakh for employees salary, and Rs 17.80 Lakh for petrol and diesel expenses. A senior IT official said, “The assessee failed to provide any bills or invoices in support of his claim. The assessing officer has disallowed 30 per cent of the expenses and the total dues are nearly Rs 52 Lakh.” The minister however maintains that he has never defaulted and has filed tax returns at a regular basis for the past ten years. The IT department has seized Singh's Citibank account at Connaught Place, and HDFC account at Khan Market branch, New Delhi.
Singh was sentenced to a three-year jail term in 2006 in a road rage case. It was later dismissed after the Supreme Court turned down his conviction. Formerly a Rajya Sabha member of the BJP, he resigned in 2016, only to join the Congress in 2017 a little before the state Assembly polls in Punjab.
