A 30-year-old dhaba cook from Bhind district has found himself at the center of a startling financial controversy after receiving an income tax notice for more than ₹46 crore. The man, identified as Ravinder Singh Chauhan, insists he has no connection to the alleged transactions flagged by the tax authorities.
Chauhan, who earns a modest living working at a roadside eatery, said his annual bank transactions do not even touch ₹3 lakh. “I work at a dhaba. My account never sees that kind of money,” he explained. Despite his limited means, the Income Tax Department’s Gwalior branch issued him a notice on April 9, 2025, claiming that taxable income worth ₹46.18 crore had “escaped assessment” for the financial year 2020–21.
When Chauhan first received the notice, written in English, neither he nor his wife understood its contents, leading them to ignore it. Matters escalated when a second notice arrived on July 25, prompting him to return from Pune—where he had migrated for work—to understand the issue.
According to his lawyer, advocate Pradhuman Singh Bhadoriya, the roots of the problem stretch back to 2019. At the time, Chauhan was employed as a mess helper at a toll plaza on Gwalior bypass. He alleges that his supervisor asked him to submit his Aadhaar and bank account details, claiming they were needed to process his provident fund. Coming from a financially constrained background—he left school after Class 6—Chauhan complied, hoping it would help secure benefits.
Months went by without any provident fund payments, and Chauhan says he repeatedly failed in his attempts to close the bank account. Even after his toll plaza job ended in 2023, he later discovered that the same account was allegedly used for large-scale financial activities over the years without his knowledge.
“It looks like the account was continuously used for huge transactions. Even after I requested its closure, someone else kept operating it,” Chauhan said.
With help from his lawyer, Chauhan has now approached the police, but his troubles continue. The local police in Bhind told him the alleged crime originated in Delhi, and that he should pursue the case there. “We have received the complaint and are deciding the next course of action,” a senior police officer confirmed.
For now, the cook-turned-reluctant litigant awaits clarity from both the tax department and law enforcement, as he tries to untangle how his modest identity became linked to crores of rupees in disputed financial dealings.
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