Same transaction test supports common trial for linked income-tax complaints over overseas account non-disclosure

Three criminal complaints concerning alleged non-disclosure of an overseas bank account and related Income-tax Act defaults were treated as arising from the same transaction for trial purposes. The court applied the same transaction test under Section 220 CrPC, focusing on the common substratum of facts, continuity of action, unity of purpose, and substantial overlap in information, documents, witnesses, and evidence. Different assessment years did not, by themselves, make the offences separate where the allegations were materially interconnected. A common trial was therefore directed.

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Issues: Whether the three criminal complaints arising from alleged non-disclosure of an overseas bank account and related defaults under the Income-tax Act, 1961 were part of the same transaction so as to justify a common trial under Section 220 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

Analysis: The complaints were founded on substantially the same information, documents, witnesses and factual foundation. The alleged foreign account, its non-disclosure, and the related defaults under the Income-tax Act were treated as interconnected steps in one continuous sequence of acts. Applying the test of same transaction, the decisive factors were the common substratum of facts, continuity of action, and unity of purpose. The circumstance that the complaints related to different assessment years did not, by itself, make the offences distinct for trial purposes where the allegations and evidence overlapped materially.

Conclusion: The complaints were held to arise from the same transaction, and a common trial was directed.

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