2 Years Jail For Uttarakhand Jeweller Who Stashed Money In Swiss Bank

DEHRADUN: A Dehradun-based jeweller was sentenced imprisonment of two years on Monday for stashing away unaccounted money in the Swiss bank.

Vivek Dwiwedi, Chief Judicial Magistrate (economic offences) sentenced the owner of Punjab Jewellers Raju Verma yesterday after holding him guilty of not showing money stashed away in the Swiss bank in his Income Tax returns.

According to the senior counsel of I-T department S M Jain, he also slapped a fine of Rupees 8 lakh on the jeweller.

In his staunch order, the Chief Judicial Magistrate Dwiwedi said the jeweller deposited rupees ninety two lakhs in Swiss Bank in the year 1996 but did not show it under his income tax returns.

The vigilance cell of the Income Tax department, detected the fraud during raids conducted at the jewellery outlet in year 2012, the IT department senior lawyer said.

Sixteen cases were lodged against Mr Verma and court proceedings initiated against him in 2015.

The trial was completed in a record two years’ time and quantum of sentence pronounced, the senior counsel claimed.
It is the first case of black money anywhere in the country where hearings have been concluded and quantum of sentence pronounced within two years, he further claimed.