Third-party WhatsApp evidence cannot sustain section 69A additions without corroboration or proper electronic proof.

Additions under section 69A could not be sustained where they rested only on a third-party WhatsApp chat, an image and that third party's statement, without independent corroboration from the assessee's premises or any live nexus to the assessee. The electronic material did not reliably identify the assessee, did not explain the alleged payments, and was not proved in the manner required for admissibility of electronic evidence. The assessee denied receipt of cash, no incriminating material was found in its search, and the Tribunal noted that proceedings under section 153C would have been the appropriate route if reliance was to be placed on third-party search material. The additions were deleted and the revenue's appeals failed.

---

---

Issues: Whether additions under section 69A based solely on a third-party WhatsApp chat and statement, without independent corroboration from the assessee's premises and without compliance with the requirements governing electronic evidence, could be sustained.

Analysis: The additions were founded on an image and WhatsApp messages recovered from the mobile phone of a third party and on that third party's statement. The material did not identify the assessee with sufficient reliability, did not disclose the nature or purpose of the alleged payments, and was not linked to any independent evidence found from the assessee. The assessee consistently denied receipt of cash and no corroborative material was found during the search on the assessee. The electronic record was also not shown to have been proved in the manner required for admissibility of electronic evidence. In these circumstances, a third-party chat and retracted statement, without a live nexus to the assessee, could not justify the additions. The Tribunal also noted that, on the facts relied upon, the proper jurisdictional route would have been proceedings under section 153C rather than an addition sustained in the assessee's own assessment on the basis of third-party search material.

Conclusion: The additions were not sustainable and were rightly deleted; the revenue's appeals fail.

---