I-T Dept seizes Navjot Singh Sidhu's bank accounts over non-payment of taxes

Former cricketer and Punjab tourism minister Navjot Singh Sidhu has been accused of non-payment of tax dues amounting to nearly Rs 52 lakh. The Income Tax department has seized two of his bank accounts within Delhi after he failed to produce bills of expenditure declared in his tax returns filed for FY15.
 
Sources quoted by news reports said that Singh was reminded by the I-T department to furnish the bills but he ignored the warnings. Following which, I-T department seized Singh's Citibank account at Connaught Place and HDFC account at Khan Market branch.
 
Reports said that Sidhu had a given a breakup of his expenses; Rs 38.24 lakh in travel, Rs 28 lakh for dress expenses, Rs 47 lakh for employees salary, and Rs 17.80 lakh for petrol and diesel expenses.
 
"The assessee failed to provide any bills or invoices in support of his claim. The assessing officer has disallowed 30 per cent of the expenses and the total dues are nearly Rs 52 lakh," a senior I-T official said.
 
Singh, however, said that he has never defaulted and has filed tax returns at a regular basis for the past ten years.
Singh, who was formerly with the Punjab's BJP unit, was sentenced to a three-year jail term in a road rage case in 2006. The case was dismissed after the Supreme Court turned down his conviction.
 
Last year, a petition was tabled in the Punjab and Haryana High Court regarding the jokes he shared on the comedy shows he anchored. However, the petition was rejected.
Singh, 53, resigned as the Rajya Sabha member and BJP in 2016. Later, he joined Congress in 2017 just before the state Assembly polls in Punjab.