india

Updated: Oct 18, 2018 23:33 IST

When income tax sleuths came calling at Patiala’s famous chaatwala, they had a big surprise in store for them: Rs 1.20 crore undisclosed income.

The search on Wednesday comes close on the heels of a Ludhiana pakorawala declaring an undisclosed income of Rs 60 lakh to the tax department 10 days ago.

“The owner had not filed IT returns for the past two years. After conducting a discreet survey, tracing the footfall at his shop and monitoring his supplies to other shops and marriages, we raided his Focal Point shop and found that he had made investments running into lakhs in real estate,” said an I-T official, who was part of the raiding team.

The chaat wala also has booking offices on Sirhind road where he takes bulk orders for marriages and other functions.

“In our survey, we have found that famous eateries are making huge money but not paying taxes according to their income. Thus, we have decided to launch this drive against tax defaulters”, said another official, who was part of team that raided Ludhiana pakorawala and other eateries recently.