Karti Chidambaram reacts after property worth 54-crore attached by ED

NEW DELHI: Congress MP and former finance minister P Chidambaram 's son Karti and daughter-in-law Srinidhi face more prosecution complaints (chargesheets) filed by income tax, this time for accepting cash on sale of land in Muttukadu on the outskirts of Chennai. The land deals fetched the Chidambarams over Rs 40 crore.The complaints against Karti and Srinidhi were filed by the income tax department on September 12 and the court of additional chief metropolitan magistrate, EOW 1, Chennai, took cognisance of the charges while issuing summons for October 10 to begin the trial in the case.According to the charges framed by I-T, Karti sold land parcels for Rs 26.74 crore of which he received nearly Rs 19 crore in cheque and about Rs 7.75 crore in cash. Similarly, out of the Rs 5 crore sale proceeds, Srinidhi received payments of Rs 1.36 crore in cash.Receiving cash in land deals is illegal and considered an attempt to conceal income and evade taxes, punishable under Sections 276, 277 and 278 of the I-T Act . Though Karti's mother Nalini had also sold off land worth Rs 8.65 crore in the same area, total proceeds were received in cheque hence no case was made against her.The fresh prosecution complaints come just five months after the income tax department filed four chargesheets in May this year against Karti, Srinidhi and Nalini under the stringent Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) Act in connection with properties purchased and investments made in UK and US for Rs 9.45 crore.Karti did not respond to mails sent to him on the fresh charges made by the I-T department in its prosecution complaints for which the trial will begin on October 10. The Chidambarams had contested the charges made under the black money law saying purchase of properties in Cambridge and investments made in the US were all legal and through banking transactions.The cases under the black money law were made after Karti, his mother and wife failed to disclose foreign assets and investments in their income tax returns despite the fact that they were earlier given opportunity through one-time amnesty scheme to disclose all foreign assets.