Ludhiana (Punjab), Dec 29 (IANS) India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has been caught on a wrong foot for not paying service tax on his income, here Wednesday.

According to the officials of central excise department here, Harbhajan, who stays in Jalandhar some 60 km from here, has not paid the service tax on his income through first and second seasons of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Harbhajan was a member of Mumbai Indians franchisee, which is owned businessman Mukesh Ambani, in the IPL.

‘We have got reports about the anomalies in the payment of service tax by Harbhajan Singh. We are looking into this matter and will serve him a notice once he is back from South Africa,’ said P.K. Sirohi, central excise and customs chief commissioner.

‘Right now, I cannot comment on the actual amount of service tax as our officials are calculating it.’

Sources in the central excise department told IANS that Harbhajan had not paid the service tax, amounting to Rs.10 million (Rs.1 crore), on his income from the promotional activities for his IPL franchisee.

Earlier, the central excise department (Chandigarh region) had also slapped a fine of Rs. 15 million (Rs.1.5 crore) on another Punjab cricketer, Yuvraj Singh.