Hyderabad: The disclosure of Rs10,000 crore of undeclared income under the Centre’s Income Disclosure Scheme (IDS) made by an unidentified individual in Hyderabad has turned out to be fake. The I-T department officials were shocked to find that he did not have even Rs 1 crore, but he only wanted to grab media limelight.

With this finding, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu who claimed that he knew the man that declared such a huge amount also turns out fake. Mr. Naidu himself claimed on several occasions that he knew who it was and several of his partymen also endorsed their leader's claim.

Meanwhile, this also deals an embarrassing blow to the Centre’s claim of unearthing about Rs 65,000 crore of undeclared income through the voluntary IDS. It also calls into question the authenticity of other disclosures made under the scheme.

I-T department conveyed the matter to headquarters, but did not disclose the details of the applicant.

Deccan Chronicle on Sunday carried a story quoting TRS Legislative Council member T. Bhanu Prasad, a builder, as saying, "The so-called disclosure by one individual of Rs 10,000 crore is nothing but a fake, I am told by I-T officials. They are keeping his identity a secret."

Trader just wanted to draw attention: I-T

According to income-tax department sources, the individual runs a small business. His IDS application for Rs 10,000 crore was said to be the single largest amount declared under the scheme throughout the country. When I-T officers checked the veracity of the disclosure, they found that the trader made the declaration just to attract attention and did not have even Rs 1 crore.

Under the IDS, those holding unaccounted money could declare it by paying the 45 percent penalty. The scheme, IDS-2016, ended on September 30 and the central government claimed that it had received disclosures from over 64,000 people across India for an amount of Rs 65,250 crore. That figure will now fall to Rs 55,250 crore following the discovery of this fraudulent filing.

The announcement that one individual had declared Rs 10,000 crore in unpaid taxes had led to a furious exchange of allegations between the Telugu Desam and the YSRC in Andhra Pradesh.

Mr Naidu had said that the reported Rs 10,000 crore does not belong to an entrepreneur but to a political leader. His cabinet colleague Devineni Uma Maheshwara Rao and other prominent leaders of the Telugu Desam alleged that the person who had declared the sum was YSRC chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

However, the YSRCP strongly rebutted the allegations. And finally the CM and his partymen have been proved wrong.