Qureshi made false claim to go abroad: IT Dept to court

Controversial businessman Moin Akhtar Qureshi, an accused in a black money case, had made a false claim to go abroad, Income Tax Department told a city court today.
The Department sought modification of the bail condition of the meat exporter and said he should be directed to seek the court's prior permission before leaving India in future.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ajay Garg asked the counsel of Income Tax (IT) Department to file a proper application in this regard and listed the matter for April 7.
IT Department's standing counsel Brijesh Garg said that Qureshi's bail condition should be modified and, instead of just intimating the court about his foreign trip, he should be directed to seek the court's prior permission before leaving the country.

In October last year, Qureshi was stopped at the IGI Airport here following a look-out notice against him by the Enforcement Directorate which is probing a case of money laundering and violation of foreign exchange norms.
Qureshi was then allowed to go after he showed a court order saying he had to only inform the court for his foreign travel which he had done.

IT Department's prayer came in the backdrop of a plea filed Qureshi last year intimating the court that he wanted to visit the United Kingdom in October where his wife was undergoing treatment.
While verifying facts, the IT Department had received a communication from the passport office that Qureshi's wife, Nasreen Qureshi, was in India during that period.

The department said Qureshi had made a false ground before the court to go abroad and for future purposes, he should be directed to seek permission before leaving the country. Qureshi had claimed that his wife was in London in October 2016.
While granting bail, the court had in March 2015 imposed condition on the accused that he should not leave the country without its prior permission. Later, it was modified to only an intimation.
Qureshi's employee Aditya Sharma was also summoned as
accused in the case earlier and both were granted bail after they had appeared in the court. The Delhi High Court has stayed the proceedings against Sharma.

The court had taken cognisance of IT department's complaint under the IT Act relating to making false statement and the IPC for the alleged offences of criminal conspiracy, giving or fabricating false evidence in a judicial proceeding.
The complaint had said the department was investigating the matter and questioned Qureshi on February 15, 2014 at his residence here.
It had also alleged that during questioning, Qureshi made a false statement when he was asked about his income and assets and those in the names of his family members or associates. He was also asked to furnish the list of his bank lockers.

Qureshi had allegedly told the officials that he had only one locker with HSBC Bank's South Extension branch but, during probe, the department claimed to have found he had 11 lockers which were in the names of his employees and associates but the articles inside belonged to him.
The lockers were operated by Qureshi's employees of A M Q Group on his instructions, it had claimed, adding that over Rs 11.26 crore in cash and jewellery worth over Rs 8.35 crore were found in the lockers.
Later, Qureshi admitted that the money and the articles belonged to him and surrendered everything to the department, saying it could deduct the income tax from the seized money and return rest of the articles to him.

Regarding Sharma, the department had alleged that he had tried to mislead the department by making false statement regarding the lockers.