Deduction under section 48(i) was confined to expenditure...

Deduction under section 48(i) was confined to expenditure incurred wholly and exclusively in connection with the transfer, and the assessee had to prove that proximate nexus. Travel and professional charges said to relate to execution of the sale deed required fresh verification, while expenditure incurred long before the transfer or attributable to other persons was not automatically deductible. One-time maintenance, electricity and water deposits were treated as part of the cost of acquisition of the flat because possession depended on those payments. Interest on the loan used to purchase the property was also allowed as cost of acquisition, with indexation, since it had not been claimed earlier as house property deduction.

---