Nine people have been arrested in the case so far. Cops say some
senior I-T officials may be involved
Getting a refund from the I-T department is a moment of ecstasy for
every taxpayer. But what if you hadn't filed a return in the first
place?
A huge scam has been unearthed in the Income Tax department
resulting in a loss of crores of rupees to the exchequer. Three
employees hacked the password of an Additional Commissioner of the
department, Manish Gupta, and were issuing refund cheques to their
accomplices without them having filed their Income Tax Returns (ITRs).
Police said that the forgery and cheating was being committed for the
past several years.
In the net
Nine persons including three data entry operators, a Chartered
Accountant (CA), and a south Delhi resident have been arrested in this
connection so far. Police have registered four separates FIRs and are
expecting to lodge more cases in coming days. Cops said that more than
a hundred people may be arrested in the coming days as the probe into
the scam is revealing murky details every day.
Easy money
A south Delhi resident Dinesh Chand Saxena with an annual income of
around one crore rupees had to file his ITR when he came in contact
with a CA, Jaspreet, who assured him of huge refunds. Jaspreet
introduced Saxena to two data entry operators of Income Tax department
Aslender Rathore and Ranjeev Mehto who demanded 25 per cent from the
refund money. Saxena agreed to their condition.
He then handed over his
TDS related documents, a photocopy of his PAN card and other documents
to Jaspreet. Aslender and Ranjeev cracked the password of additional
commissioner, Manish Gupta and showed in their records that Dinesh
Chand Saxena had been filing his ITR for the past three years while no
refund cheques had been issued to him. On the basis of this fabricated
data five separate cheques with a face value of six lakh fifty eight
thousand were issued by the tax department to Saxena and the amount
was credited to his account.
Caught at last
"An income tax official Pratap Chauhan discovered this fraud during an
inspection of the refund status BCP system," said a police official.
Chauhan contacted Saxena who denied having any documentary proof of
filing returns for the past three years. The official then contacted
the police following which two separate FIRs were lodged and five
persons were arrested. Four more people were arrested on Sunday. They
have been identified as Chandresh Yadav, Pankaj, Yogesh Bhargava and
Manish, all east Delhi residents. The total number of people arrested
has reached nine.
Bigger fish involved?
Cops are suspecting that apart from data entry operators, senior
officials attached with the I-T department are hand-in-glove with the
culprits. "A departmental inquiry is being conducted by I-T officials
in this respect. Police will arrest anyone, even if it's a
highly-placed official, if his complicity is proved," said a police
official.
Mail trouble
The Income Tax department recently cautioned people not to respond to
fraudulent emails, which use its official logo and ask for sensitive
details like PAN card and credit card numbers. The department has
issued the advisory as it received numerous enquiries from various
quarters, seeking clarifications on such deceptive emails. "It is
clarified that the Income Tax department does not send e-mails
regarding refunds and does not seek any information regarding credit
cards of taxpayers. Taxpayers are, therefore, cautioned that they
should not respond to such mails and if they do so it would be at
their own risk and responsibility," the IT department has said in a
public notice.
Faking it
In a major operation in March, the Tax department of the Delhi
government unearthed a "huge scam" involving nearly 1,300 "bogus
traders" who used to claim Value Added Tax (VAT) refunds by showing
bogus bills and fake sells. The Value added tax department had
launched a probe discretely choosing nearly 3,000 traders in the city,
each having an yearly turn over of Rs one crore and found that nearly
one-third of them were either fake or non-functional. "The figure is
astonishing. We found out that almost one-third of the total newly
registered traders were either bogus or non-functional. We have issued
notices to them," a top official of VAT department said. Explaining
the modus operandi, the official said these traders, without doing any
business, seek VAT refunds from the government by preparing bogus
invoices and fake sells. "We have found out 1,277 traders who are fake
or non-functional. Basically they were living off the government
without doing anything," the official said.
senior I-T officials may be involved
Getting a refund from the I-T department is a moment of ecstasy for
every taxpayer. But what if you hadn't filed a return in the first
place?
A huge scam has been unearthed in the Income Tax department
resulting in a loss of crores of rupees to the exchequer. Three
employees hacked the password of an Additional Commissioner of the
department, Manish Gupta, and were issuing refund cheques to their
accomplices without them having filed their Income Tax Returns (ITRs).
Police said that the forgery and cheating was being committed for the
past several years.
In the net
Nine persons including three data entry operators, a Chartered
Accountant (CA), and a south Delhi resident have been arrested in this
connection so far. Police have registered four separates FIRs and are
expecting to lodge more cases in coming days. Cops said that more than
a hundred people may be arrested in the coming days as the probe into
the scam is revealing murky details every day.
Easy money
A south Delhi resident Dinesh Chand Saxena with an annual income of
around one crore rupees had to file his ITR when he came in contact
with a CA, Jaspreet, who assured him of huge refunds. Jaspreet
introduced Saxena to two data entry operators of Income Tax department
Aslender Rathore and Ranjeev Mehto who demanded 25 per cent from the
refund money. Saxena agreed to their condition.
He then handed over his
TDS related documents, a photocopy of his PAN card and other documents
to Jaspreet. Aslender and Ranjeev cracked the password of additional
commissioner, Manish Gupta and showed in their records that Dinesh
Chand Saxena had been filing his ITR for the past three years while no
refund cheques had been issued to him. On the basis of this fabricated
data five separate cheques with a face value of six lakh fifty eight
thousand were issued by the tax department to Saxena and the amount
was credited to his account.
Caught at last
"An income tax official Pratap Chauhan discovered this fraud during an
inspection of the refund status BCP system," said a police official.
Chauhan contacted Saxena who denied having any documentary proof of
filing returns for the past three years. The official then contacted
the police following which two separate FIRs were lodged and five
persons were arrested. Four more people were arrested on Sunday. They
have been identified as Chandresh Yadav, Pankaj, Yogesh Bhargava and
Manish, all east Delhi residents. The total number of people arrested
has reached nine.
Bigger fish involved?
Cops are suspecting that apart from data entry operators, senior
officials attached with the I-T department are hand-in-glove with the
culprits. "A departmental inquiry is being conducted by I-T officials
in this respect. Police will arrest anyone, even if it's a
highly-placed official, if his complicity is proved," said a police
official.
Mail trouble
The Income Tax department recently cautioned people not to respond to
fraudulent emails, which use its official logo and ask for sensitive
details like PAN card and credit card numbers. The department has
issued the advisory as it received numerous enquiries from various
quarters, seeking clarifications on such deceptive emails. "It is
clarified that the Income Tax department does not send e-mails
regarding refunds and does not seek any information regarding credit
cards of taxpayers. Taxpayers are, therefore, cautioned that they
should not respond to such mails and if they do so it would be at
their own risk and responsibility," the IT department has said in a
public notice.
Faking it
In a major operation in March, the Tax department of the Delhi
government unearthed a "huge scam" involving nearly 1,300 "bogus
traders" who used to claim Value Added Tax (VAT) refunds by showing
bogus bills and fake sells. The Value added tax department had
launched a probe discretely choosing nearly 3,000 traders in the city,
each having an yearly turn over of Rs one crore and found that nearly
one-third of them were either fake or non-functional. "The figure is
astonishing. We found out that almost one-third of the total newly
registered traders were either bogus or non-functional. We have issued
notices to them," a top official of VAT department said. Explaining
the modus operandi, the official said these traders, without doing any
business, seek VAT refunds from the government by preparing bogus
invoices and fake sells. "We have found out 1,277 traders who are fake
or non-functional. Basically they were living off the government
without doing anything," the official said.
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