Bengaluru, 10 May

High Court declined to dismiss a case involving alleged tax evasion by bookies operating at Bangalore Turf Club. The court stated that the evidence indicated a potential cognisable offence. Justice S Vishwajith Shetty's bench issued the order in response to a petition filed by the bookies.

The case, registered in January stemmed from a raid prompted by information suggesting that the bookies were accepting bets without proper registration, leading to tax evasion. During the raid, authorities seized Rs 3,45,74,040.

The bookies' counsel argued that they were licenced and questioned the applicability of the IPC's cheating section, suggesting it was invoked due to the non-cognisable nature of other provisions. The counsel contended that any wrongdoing fell under the purview of GST officers.

Advocate General Shashikiran Shetty countered, citing the bookies' failure to issue receipts for collected GST and lack of records for TDS (tax deducted at source). He also highlighted discrepancies between reported bet amounts and expected averages over a specific period.

The bench stressed that if the evidence suggested a prima facie case, courts should refrain from interfering with investigations. It emphasised the investigating agency's discretion in invoking penal provisions based on collected evidence. -PTI