I-T dept files charge sheet against Amarinder Singh in foreign assets case

Income Tax department has filed a charge sheet against Punjab Congress chief and former CM Amarinder Singh in a case of alleged untaxed foreign assets

New Delhi: The Income Tax department on Friday filed a charge sheet against Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh in a case of alleged untaxed foreign assets.

The charge sheet was filed against him and his son Raninder Singh.

As per sources, the department filed the complaint in a court in Ludhiana in Punjab and the former chief minister was charged under section 277 of the I-T Act (false statement in verification) and IPC sections 176 (omission to give notice or information to public servant by person legally bound to give it), 177 (furnishing false information), 193 (punishment for false evidence) and 199 (false statement made in declaration which is by law receivable as evidence).

Amarinder was quick to react on this and took to social media site Twitter to accuse Finance Minister Arun Jaitely of collusion.

The tweet read "I challenged Arun Jaitley to fight by-elections in Amritsar and this is how he responds. So predictable!," he tweeted.

As per the statement of I-T department officials, the former Punjab CM was "found to be the beneficiary" of a trust and other properties owned and created by his son Raninder in a foreign territory.

It said Singh was "actively involved" in the creation of these trusts and foreign properties which were not disclosed to the department for tax purposes.