2002 (9) TMI 417

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....t income of Rs. 8,00,000 under the head lottery winnings as against Rs. 6,00,000 treated as unaccounted investment by Assessing Officer. 2. While giving such direction the learned CIT(A) overlooked the fact that letters sent to M/s Chandra Agencies have not been replied to, as a result the lottery winning by assessee is not corroborated by any evidence and is therefore, not proved beyond doubt. 3. While giving such directions, the learned CIT(A) failed to appreciate that assessee's minor son Master Manoj Patodia also won the lottery prize in the same draw of an equal amount through M/s Chandra Agencies which is very unlikely thing to happen and appears to have been stage managed as pointed out by the Assessing Officer in the assessmen....

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....s M/s. Chandra Agency had left the place. The Assessing Officer held that the surrounding circumstances pointed to the strong probability that the assessees had purchased the prize winning tickets after the draw was declared, so as to convert their unaccounted money into lottery winnings. In first appeal, the learned CIT(A) by his order dated 31-1-1990 restored the matter to the file of the Assessing Officer for making further enquiries about the genuineness of the assessee's pleas. Fresh assessments were made by repeating the finding arrived at in the original assessment. In further appeal the learned CIT(A) by his orders dated 11-8-1994 came to the conclusion that the Assessing Officer had not collected or brought on record any concrete e....

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....ce and cannot be made a basis for assessment. Reliance was placed on the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Lalchand Bhagat Ambica Ram v. CIT [1959] 37 ITR 288, wherein, while dealing with a case of encashment of high denomination notes, the Hon'ble Apex Court held that conjecture, suspicions, surmises cannot be made a basis of an assessment. Similarly reliance was placed on the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Omar Salay Mohamed Sait v. CIT [1959] 37 ITR 151 . Reliance was also placed on the decision of ITAT, Delhi Bench-D in the case of Marwah & Co. v. ACIT ( 46 ITD 42). The said decision of the ITAT related to prize winning in Naval Welfare Bumper called 'Raffle'. The ITAT held that the burden to pro....