Rs 13,860 cr not mine, belongs to politicians, bureaucrats: Gujarat businessman

Mahesh Shah, the city-based realtor who vanished after disclosing Rs 13,860 crore in cash under the Income Disclosure Scheme (IDS), resurfaced in the studio of a regional TV news channel on Saturday evening. If Shah's reappearance wasn't dramatic enough, Income-Tax (I-T) sleuths filled any shortcoming by barging into the studio and taking him into custody live on television.

Before taxmen whisked him off to the Sarkhej police station, Shah clarified on TV that the astronomical amount he disclosed before the I-T department belongs to politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats. However, he said he will disclose their names only before I-T officials and that truth will be out soon.

Accepting what he did was against the law, Shah claimed he had acted out of compulsion and accepted getting intimidated by the handsome commission.
"Those whose money was disclosed under IDS backed out at the last moment, so I could not pay the first installment of the tax to the I-T department," he said.

Shah claimed he was out of Ahmedabad for the past 10 days and had just returned from Mumbai. Earlier, there were speculations that he would appear before I-T or Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials, but he chose to go public on a TV channel.

"I am innocent and haven't done anything wrong. The public will appreciate me when the truth comes out," he said. During the course of the interview, which lasted more than an hour, Shah said that there is threat to his life. The news channel spoke with the police, requesting them to provide adequate security to Shah.

When Shah's interview was on, police personnel, along with I-T officers, arrived at the studio and escorted him out. They took Shah to the Sarkhej police station, where he was handed over to officials from the I-T department and ED.