Court records evidence in IT case against ex-Power Secy's wife

A Delhi court has commenced recording of pre-charge evidence in an income tax case in which former Delhi Power Secretary R K Verma's wife was summoned as accused for allegedly not declaring money stashed in an undisclosed company in the United Kingdom.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Devendra Kumar Sharma recorded the statement of one of the witnesses brought by the Income Tax (IT) Department.
The statement of the witness remained inconclusive and the court listed the matter for recording of further evidence on June 26.
Accused Ritu Verma was granted bail on March 2 after she appeared before the court in pursuance to summons. The court had directed her not to leave the country without its prior permission.

The court had in January summoned her as an accused after taking cognisance of the IT department's complaint.
The IT department has alleged it had received information that the retired IAS officer's wife had floated a proprietary company in the British Virgin Islands, of which she was the sole director.

It had claimed that the firm, Windsor Incorporation Inc, began its operations in July 2007 with 50,000 shares of one dollar each, which in Indian rupee equivalent was then valued at Rs 20 lakh and worth about Rs 30 lakh at the time of lodging the complaint.
The department said it had filed the complaint against Ritu, wife of Verma who was power secretary in Sheila Dikshit government, after receiving all documents of the company and memorandum of association, which were authenticated evidence.

It had claimed that initially Ritu had denied having any such company abroad and later stopped appearing before the department during the course of its investigation.
"She did not disclose the amount of around Rs 20 lakh in foreign country in her income tax declaration and did not show it in her income tax return too," the department had said.