Undisclosed money stashed abroad: Couple gets bail in IT case

A Delhi-based couple, summoned as accused for allegedly not declaring money stashed in a firm in the UK's British Virgin Islands, were today granted bail by a court here.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pritam Singh granted the relief to Karan Kumar and his wife Ratna Kumar on a personal bond of Rs 20,000 each after they appeared before him in pursuance of summons issued to them.
The court, however, did not impose any bail condition on the couple. According to the Income Tax (I-T) department, Karan Kumar works as a consultant of shares and debentures here.
The court has now fixed January 15, 2016 for recording pre-charge evidence.

The court had earlier taken cognisance on the complaint filed by IT department under section 277 (false statement in verification) of the IT Act and section 181 (knowingly falsely stating to a public servant on oath as true) of the IPC in June.
In its complaint, the I-T department said it had received an information that the couple had floated a proprietary company in British Virgin Islands and they were its directors.

It said the firm, Ridgeway Consulting Ltd, began its operations in 2006 with 25,000 shares each of one dollar each which in Indian rupee is equivalent to over Rs 11 lakh (at that time).

They were appointed as directors of the firm on November 13, 2006, it said.
The complaint said on January 22, the statement of accused was recorded by the department and they were confronted with the documents but they had denied having any foreign bank account.
It added that the couple also have a bank account in Singapore and the department has submitted those documents in the court showing transfer of money from Singapore to British Virgin Islands.
It is a case of undisclosed income and source in a foreign bank account, it said.