Ex-minister's son, daughter-in-law appears in court in IT case

Former union minister Vasant Sathe's son and daughter-in-law were today granted bail by a Delhi court after they appeared before it as accused for allegedly not disclosing details of their joint Swiss bank account to the Income Tax Department.
Ex-minister's son Subhash Sathe and daughter-in-law Indrani Sathe appeared before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Devendra Kumar Sharma in pursuance to summons issued against them and sought bail.
The court granted them bail on furnishing of a personal bond of Rs 50,000 each and a surety of like amount.
It has now fixed the case for recording of pre-charge evidence in the case on July 10.

The court had earlier summoned them as accused after taking cognizance of the Income Tax (IT) Department's complaint alleging that the couple had a joint account in HSBC Bank in Geneva with approximately seven lakh US Dollars (now over Rs 4.44 crore).
The department claimed the couple has been interrogated by its investigation wing and they have admitted the allegations and agreed to clear their tax dues.

"We have jointly made Subhash and Indrani as accused in the case. We had asked them to furnish details including statement of their foreign bank account, but they did not provide us the same. They have been accused under section 276D (failure to produce accounts and documents) of the IT Act and search was conducted at their residence," the department said.

According to the complaint, the balance in their account as on December 2006 was USD 7,49,370.
The couple was engaged in the manufacture of automotive parts and plastic components and are Directors in companies- Sun Vacuum Formers Pvt Ltd and TRW Sun Steering Wheels Pvt Ltd, with manufacturing units located in Gurgaon, Manesar and Pune.