Furnish your source of investment, Income Tax Dept tells investors of Wasankar group

A WAVE of fear has gripped investors in Wasankar Wealth Management as Income Tax Department (I-T) has started sending notices to them to furnish source of their income which they put in the ponzi scheme of Wasankar group. Notices have been served to more than 300 investors so far.

“Along with the official list of investors with Economic Offences Wing, the I-T officials also identified investors from the documents seized by EoW including private diaries. After completing secret inquiries of yearly returns filed by the investors, the I-T officials found out that many investors had invested black money in the Wasankar Group. Some of them have not yet lodged complaint with the police fearing action from Income-Tax,” sources in I-T informed ‘The Hitavada’.

A woman, resident of Vivekananda Nagar, Wardha Road, was asked to furnish her source of income as she had invested Rs 20,60,000/- in Wasankar Group. An EoW official informed that a total of 858 complainants were struggling to get back their hard-earned money. “All these investors had filed complaints in writing with EoW from year 2014 to 2019,” he said. These complainants had invested collectively worth Rs 136 crore in Wasankar Group. As the ponzi schemes ran out of money, Prashant Wasankar started giving excuses to investors as cheques started bouncing for want of funds and finally he was booked and arrested by police in May 2014.

The notices from the I-T Department has come as a shock for the investors. The I-T officials sought the information under Section 133(6) of The Income Tax Act 1961. As per the notices, the I-T officials asked investors to file information of financial year (FY) 2012-13 and assessment year (AY) 2013-14.

The information sought by the IT is:- A) Copy of return of income file for above AY along with compilation of income. B) Copy of bank statement of all the bank accounts maintained by the investors during the above FY and during the current financial year. C) Details of deposits/investment (data-wise) made with Wasankar Group as per the complaint filed by the investors with police. D) Sources of such deposits made with Wasankar Group along with documentary evidences. E) Information regarding year-wise total deposits made with Wasankar Group along with evidences of deposits. F) Details of business relations with Wasankar Group, if any.

The I-T Department has requested the investors to furnish the aforesaid information within five days of receipt of the letter. “In case of failure, it will be presumed that you have nothing to offer regarding the investment made by you and this office will proceed to take further necessary action as per the provisions of I-T Act,” the notice stated.

It may be mentioned that due to massive publicity campaign and prompt repayment, during initial phase thousands of people invested their hard-earned money with Wasankar. A majority of them were retired persons who parked their life-long savings. In 2012-13, flow of investors shrunk as two other companies using almost identical modus operandi run by Jayant and Varsha Zambre of J S Financial Services and Shree Surya Group run by Sameer and Pallavi Joshi, went bankrupt leaving thousands in lurch.

Wasankar’s arrest in 2014 was a big blow to hundreds of his investors. Initially, a substantial number of investors mobilised support for Wasankar and termed the complainants as spoilsports but later reality surfaced and many of them quietly filed complaints.