JUDGEMENT
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(1.)BY this order, Criminal Miscellaneous No. 3228-M of 1984 (Avtar Chand v. ITO) ; Criminal Miscellaneous No. 4496-M of 1984 (Kailash Bhushan v. ITO) ; Criminal Miscellaneous No. 4775-M of 1984 (Jarnail Singh v. ITO) and Criminal Miscellaneous No. 4777-M of 1984 (Rundarpal Singh v. ITO) are being decided as the facts and the law points involved are similar and the same can be disposed of by one judgment. For reference, I will be referring to the facts mentioned in Criminal Miscellaneous No. 4775-M of 1984, which is a petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for quashing the complaints filed by the respondent in the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Jalandhar, under Sections 276c and 277 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and all proceedings in pursuance thereof.
(2.)THE brief facts of the case are that the petitioner filed three separate income-tax returns for the accounting years ending on March 31, 1976, March 31, 1977 and March 31, 1978, i. e. , for the assessment years 1976-77, 1977-78 and 1978-79. These returns were filed on October 12, 1977, October 10, 1977 and June 9, 1977, respectively, and the income disclosed was Rs. 9,000, Rs. 11,000 and Rs. 12,400, respectively. No books of account such as cash-book or ledger were being maintained. Income was disclosed on estimate basis in a bona fide manner. The Income-tax Department searched the premises of Shri M. P. S. Minhas, who is the son of the petitioner, on December 4, 1978. Some days after, this search, a survey of the working of the petitioner was done and the income-tax authorities started harassing the petitioner and other relations of the abovesaid M. P. S. Minhas. The conclusion derived by the authorities concerned was that the said M. P. S. Minhas was the real owner of the various business concerns which were being run by his various relations including the petitioner. Seven relations of Shri M. P. S. Minhas were contacted and it was projected to them that they all formed a group managed by M. P. S. Minhas and the said seven relations of M. P. S. Minnas were treated by the income-tax authorities as members of one group, i. e. , Minhas group.
(3.)ALL the assessees of the group had filed their returns and some of the assessments had been completed while the remaining were pending. The matter was discussed with the authorities who persuaded the petitioners and other members of the said group to file revised returns and as a result thereof revised returns were filed under an assurance that if revised returns are filed, no penalties, interest or prosecution would be initiated against them.
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