LUDHIANA: A famous chaatwala-cum-caterer in

surrendered undisclosed income of Rs 1.2 crore to the income-tax department on Thursday after a survey at his factory in Patiala.

Based on his disclosure, the owner of the chaat business will have to pay income-tax of approximately Rs 52 lakh. The survey at his premises was launched on Wednesday by I-T department teams under instruction of Parneet Sachdev, principal commissioner Ludhiana-3, and Patiala commissionerate.

The income-tax officials found that not only had this

amassed unaccounted income and made huge investments in immovable property, but he had not even filed his Income-Tax Returns (ITR) for last two years, an I-T department official revealed.

The chaatwala has constructed two party halls and charges between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 3 lakh to serve “chaats” at an event, sources in the department said. It is likely the amount of tax evasion by the Patiala businessman could increase as most of his sales and purchases have not been recorded in books. I-T sources also said they will soon start proceedings against the owner.