The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought responses from Karti Chidambaram, son of former finance minister P Chidambaram, his mother Nalini and wife Srinidhi over a plea filed by the Income Tax (IT) Department, in an alleged black money case.
A top court bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi issued a notice to the trio and sought a reply from them over a plea filed by the I-T department against the order of the Madras High Court, quashing criminal prosecution against them in the case.
The I-T department knocked the doors of the apex court against the November 2, 2018 order of the Madras High Court in which it quashed a sanction order issued by Income Tax officials for the prosecution of former Union Minister P Chidambaram's wife, son and daughter-in-law under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015.
The bench had also quashed the private complaints filed against Chidambaram's kin by the IT department, before the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) court in Egmore. The prosecution proceedings were quashed on the grounds that the sanction orders were not issued in accordance with the law.
The prosecution case filed by the Income Tax Department on May 11, last year, under section 50 of the Black Money Act, at a Chennai court alleged that the trio made investments in foreign assets which were not disclosed fully or partly in their returns.
It was alleged that they purchased immovable property worth Rs 5.37 crore in Cambridge, United Kingdom, but the same was not disclosed in their Income Tax return.
Apart from this, the IT department had also alleged that Karti Chidambaram invested Rs 3.28 crore in Nanoholdings LLC in the USA and Rs 80 Lakh in Totus Tennis Ltd through his domestic company, Chess Global Advisory Services private limited.