Businessman, I-T inspector among those booked by CBI for allegedly claiming fraudulent tax refunds of over Rs 263 crore

PTI

New Delhi, January 27

The CBI has booked a businessman along with an Income Tax inspector and others for allegedly claiming fraudulent tax refunds of over Rs 263 crore, officials said on Thursday.

The agency has acted on a complaint from I-T department which alleged that Bhushan Anant Patil in conspiracy with its inspector Tanaji Mandal Adhikari fraudulently claimed credits for taxes deducted at source, they said.

The department alleged that they “criminally conspired” with other persons to get issued refunds exceeding Rs 263 crore which were deposited in the bank account of proprietary concern of Patil, they said.

The CBI has also booked Rajesh Mathani, Ashish Mehdiratta, VJM Media Pvt Ltd now known as Blitz Multimedia Pvt Ltd, Mumbai and Daywind Enterprises Pvt Ltd in the case, they said.

“Looking at the above facts it is evident that money might also have been transferred to some other persons and entities across the country and even outside the country. This is a serious crime against the nation and involves cheating, embezzlement and misappropriation of Consolidated Fund of India by way of fraudulently issuing refunds,” the I-T Department vigilance section said in a complaint sent to the CBI.

The department has alleged that VJM Media now known as Blitz Media had claimed TDS returns credit of Rs 6.58 lakh and Rs 9.42 lakh for the assessment years 2007-08 and 2008-09 respectively.

“It is also seen from the orders passed as tabulated above that various refunds were issued subsequently between November, 2019 to November, 2020 on the ITD system after manipulating and increasing the amount of tax deducted at source (TDS) as against the genuine claim of TDS made by the said company,” the department said.

Giving modus operandi, the taxmen alleged that the assessee had given bank details of current account with Central Bank of India in its Income Tax Return. In November, 2019 an additional savings bank account with State Bank of India, Panvel in the name of SB Enterprises - a proprietary concern of an individual named Bhushan Anant Patil was added in which first fraudulent credit was made on November 13, 2019.

This account of SB Enterprises was removed from I-T department’s system on July 08, 2021.

“The conspirators, with a view to give a semblance of authenticity to the fraudulent actions, generated dummy orders on the ITBA platform of the Income-tax Department which are also annexed herewith,” the complaint alleged.

The tax department also found that claims made in ITR were inflated and credited to the account.

The I-T department alleged that Adhikari (Sr. Tax Assistant upto January, 2021) an Inspector of Income Tax, who had access to RSA Tokens and login credentials of his supervisory authorities including the Assessing Officer and the Additional Cll has orchestrated the fraud in connivance with Patil.

“Adhikari has contrived and criminally conspired with other persons to get issued refunds exceeding Rs. 263 crores fraudulently which were deposited in the bank account of proprietary concern of Bhushan Anant Patil located at Panvel. Amounts have also been subsequently transferred to lClCl bank accounts at Lucknow and Ahmedabad...,” It alleged.