Big trouble for Navjot Singh Sidhu! IT department attaches bank accounts for nonpayment of taxes

In big trouble for Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, the Income Tax (IT) department on Thursday seized his two bank accounts for non-payment of taxes. As per a report, Sidhu is due to pay Rs 52 lakh.The report says that Sidhu has to produce documents towards dress expenses (Rs. 28,38,405), tour and traveling expenses (Rs. 38,24,282), salary expense (Rs. 47,11,400) and petrol and diesel expenses (Rs. 17,80,358).

The IT department says that the cricketer turned politician has failed to provide documentary evidence such as bills or invoices in support of his claim made during the course of assessment proceedings. Since Sidhu was unable to prove the authenticity of the transactions, IT department disallowed 30 percent of the total expenses to prevent leakage of revenue. “The assessee had gone in to appeal against the order on January 17 last year, but the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) or CIT (A) passed the order favouring the revenue and not provided any relief to the assessee, as he had failed to provide any documentary evidence in support of his claim,” an official statement noted.

Sidhu, a politician who joined the Congress last year, has been subjected to a number of controversies in the past. The politician was sentenced to a three-year jail term following a death in a road rage case in 2006. However, he filed an appeal in the Supreme Court which later turned down his conviction.

Sidhu found himself in another trouble last year when a petition was filed against him in Punjab and Haryana High Court over the kind of jokes he cracked in a reality TV show. Another massive row has erupted when he was asked to quit a comedy show as he was a Minister in the state government.

Sidhu was an active BJP member before joining the Congress. In 2004, he was elected as an MP on a BJP ticket. Sidhu continued his stint as an MP on the BJP ticket till 2014. After that, BJP nominated him to Rajya Sabha. However, he quit his RS seat a few months later and Congress.