The Income Tax (IT) department in a press release on Tuesday (30 July) rubbished claims of harassment over tax filings in the V G Siddhartha and said that it only followed norms as per the IT Act in the case. Siddhartha’s body was recovered earlier today (31 July) from the banks of Nethravati river near Mangaluru.

The release also said that the probe in the case arose after a search in a case against a prominent political leader in Karnataka led to credible evidence of concealed financial transactions by the Cafe Coffee Day (CCD).

The release further says that a person with Singapore nationality was also probed in the case and who had admitted to holding Rs 1.2 crore in unaccounted cash which belonged to Siddhartha. The search operations also led to evidence leading up to Siddhartha admitting to the unaccounted income of Rs 362.11 crore and Rs 118.02 crore, in his hands and under the CCD, respectively.

It further says that the department only acted in the ‘interest of revenue’ as per the procedure in the IT Act when it attached Mindtree shares belonging to Siddhartha and Coffee Day Enterprises Limited. In the unverified letter, Siddhartha had allegedly written that the attachment led to a serious liquidity crunch and was unfair on part of the department.

The IT department release also raised doubt over the authenticity of the letter, saying that the ‘the signature does not tally with Shri VGS’s signature available in his annual reports’.