The Tribunal held that the assessee had related details about investments and details of bank statements which clearly proved that the assessee has made total withdrawals of R. 35.80 lacs and deposited in NRO account of Rs. 27.50 lacs. The status of assessee was accepted by Assessing Officer as NRI. The assessee had not done any business activity during the said period and stayed in India for a very few days. The Tribunal held that the Assessing Officer had treated the cash deposit merely on the basis of human probability without bringing any adverse evidence on record that such cash deposit was unexplained money of assessee when the assessee was having sufficient money in his two NRE and one NRO account and explained the investment during the relevant period. Therefore, the A.O. was not justified in making addition of Rs. 27.50 lakhs and hence, deleted the addition. Since the addition was deleted on merits, the issue related to validity of the assessment was held to be merely academic. (AY. 2012-13)
Mahesh Chittubhai Patel v. ITO (IT) (2024) 112 ITR 187 /228 TTJ 752/236 DTR 281(Surat)(Trib.)
S. 69A : Unexplained money-Cash credits-Cash deposits in NRO account-Previous withdrawals-Addition is deleted [S.69A,147, 148]