TravelKhana, an award-winning start-up, riding high on profits and bullish on expansion till last December, is now wondering whether it will exist in the next six months.

The Noida-based start-up, a pioneer in delivering food to passengers travelling by train, was slapped with an ‘angel tax’ order of Rs 2.30 crore on 21 December. On 5 February, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) froze the company’s four company accounts and withdrew the entire sum of Rs 33 lakh from them.

After desperate pleas by company founder Pushpinder Singh, CBDT un-froze the accounts but has left them penniless. Stung by this unprecedented behaviour, Singh is now questioning the company’s survival. “The question is really of our existence right now,” Singh told The Quint on Thursday.