New Delhi, August 5: The Income Tax department has refuted the allegations made by industry leaders like Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Mohandas Pai that taxmen have been harassing businessmen, according to a Mint article. This has come to light after the death of CCD founder VG Siddhartha. Siddhartha Death: Here's What Led to Fund Crunch in Cafe Coffee Day

In an article recently published in the Telegraph, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairperson and managing director and founder of biopharmaceuticals firm Biocon Ltd, said that “a government official" called her recently and told her not to speak about issues such as ‘income tax harassment’.

Reportedly, Mohandas stated that several times, he has been told by people that when they go to the I-T department, they are told that they better pay up. The officers say they have a target to achieve. He wonders if there's an incentive to reach the target.

Pai also added that officers are helpless as the Central Board of Direct Taxes continuously puts pressure on them and threaten to transfer them on failing to meet the set target. Refuting these allegations, a tax official has said there is no merit in these claims.

Two days before Siddhartha's death, VG Siddhartha wrote a letter to employees and board of directors of CCD that revealed he was in deep debt.

In the letter, Siddhartha cited "harassment" at the hands of a senior income tax official as one of the reasons for financial problems his company Cafe Coffee Day is facing. "There was a lot of harassment from the previous DG income tax in the form of attaching our shares on two separate occasions to blocking our Mindtree deal and then taking the position of our Coffee Day shares, although the revised returns have been filed by us. This was very unfair and has led to a serious liquidity crunch", Siddhartha stated in the letter.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 05, 2019 01:47 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).