Income Tax Refund scam in Mumbai

Income Tax Refund scam in Mumbai




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Income Tax Refund scam in Mumbai

FIRST INFORMATION REPORT
 
(Under Section 154 Cr.P.C.)
 
1.
District:
Delhi
PS:
AC-I Delhi
Year:
2022
FIR No:
RC2162022A0001
Date:
23/01/2022
 
  1. Acts & Sections:
Acts
Sections
R/W Section
IPC
120 B
IPC
409
IPC
420
IPC
467
IPC
468
IPC
471
PC Act-1988 (As amended in 2018)
7
PC Act-1988 (As amended in 2018)
13(2)
r/w 13(1)(a)
Information Technology Act 2000
66
 
  1. Suspected offences: Abuse of Official Position,Criminal Conspiracy,Forgery,Cheating,Criminal Misconduct,Forgery for
the purpose of cheating, Use of forged documents as genuine, Computer related offence(Other)
  • Occurrence of offence:
Day:                                                                        Time Period:
From Date:                                             2019                To Date:                    2021
  • Information Received at PS:
Date:                                                 23/01/2022
  • General Diary Reference:
Entry No.:                                                             4
Date:                                                 23/01/2022        Time:               05:26:18
  1. Type of Information:W ritten
  1. Place of Occurrence: Delhi, Lucknow, Ahmedabad and Mumbai
  • Direction &distance from PS: Beat :
  • Address:
Plot No.:                                                                      Area:
City:                                                                        Pin:
State:                                                                       District:
  • In case, outside the limit of this Police Station, then
Name of PS:                                                                   District:
 
  1. Complainant / Informant:
Complainant 1
  • Name: Munish Kr Gupta
  • Father’s/Husband’s Name:
  • Date/Year of Birth:
  • Nationality: INDIAN
  • Passport:
Passport No.
Date Of Issue
Place Of Issue
  • Occupation: Additional Director General (Vigilance)-4
  • Address:
Plot No
Area
City
State
District
Pin
CBDT
New Delhi
NCT Of Delhi
New Delhi
 
  1. Details of known/suspected/unknown accused with full particulars:
Accused 1
Name:        Mr.Tanaji Mandal Adhikari(1), Designation: Inspector, Department: Income Tax, Ministry: Min. of Finance(Income Tax)
Address:
 
Accused 2
Name:        Mr.Bhushan Anant Patil(2)
Address:
 
Accused 3
Name:        Mr.Rajesh Mathani(3)
Address:
 
Accused 4
Name:        VJM Media Pvt Ltd now known as Blitz Multimedia Pvt Ltd, Mumbai(4)
Address:
 
Accused 5
Name:        Mr.Ashish Mehdiratta(5)
Address:
 
Accused 6
Name:        Daywind Enterprises Pvt Ltd(6)
Address:
 
Accused 7
Name:        Unknown Public Servant(s) & Private Person(s)
Address:
 
 
  1. Reasons for delay in reporting by the complainant/informant:
No Delay.
  1. Particulars of properties stolen:
Item Name
Age of Property
Estimated Value (in INR)
 
  1. Total value of property stolen:
 
  1. Inquest Report/U.D. Case , if any:
 
  1. First information contents:
A written complaint dated 23.01.2022 has been received from Shri Munish Kr Gupta, Additional Director General (Vigilance)-4, CBDT, New Delhi at CBI, AC-I, New Delhi. The said complaint in original is enclosed as Annexure-“B”. Contents of the said complaint are reproduced below:-
“To
The Director,
Central Bureau of Investigation, New Delhi.
Sub.: Income Tax Refund Fraud- reg. Sir,
A factual report has been received from the Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax, Circle-1(3)(1), Mumbai regarding criminal conspiracy involving fraud on the Government by way of issuing fraudulent refunds. The facts are narrated below.
  1. An anonymous information was received by the Commissioner of Income Tax-1(3), Mumbai, regarding bogus issuance of refunds in the case of M/s. BLITZ MULTIMEDIA PVT. LTD. for Assessment Years (in short, A.Y.) 2007-08 and 2008-09. On his directions, the DCIT, Circle-1(3)(1), Mumbai retrieved from the ITD System the details of the refunds issued to the above-mentioned taxpayer. Such details are tabulated as under:
Table 1: A.Y.2007-08
 
Sr. No.
 
1
Date of order
TDS credit granted
Section under which order passed
Amount of refund
As per Annexure
Page No.
22.11.2008
0
143(1)
751900(Demand)
A-7
1
2
13.10.2009
94,042
143(1)
295660(Demand)
A-7
1
3
31.01.2012
6,54,684
154
10,080
A-8
2
4
13.11.2019
6,54,684
254
5,59,080
A-2
3
5
09.01.2020
41,54,684
250
38,14,750
A-3
4
6
19.05.2020
77,29,684
155
63,36,240
A-4
5
7
20.07.2020
32,08,04,684
260A
29,76,09,920
A-5
6
8
17.08.2020
57,28,56,804
263
25,20,52,120
A-6
7
TOTAL
55,98,13,030
Table 2: A.Y.2008-09
 
Sr.
No.
Date of order
TDS credit granted
Section under which order passed
Amount of refund
As per Annexure
Page No.
1
10.10.2009
6,07,905
143(1)
405190
(Demand)
B-9
8
2
26.11.2019
9,25,764
250
10,56,100
B-2
9
3
09.01.2020
2,32,62,567
254
40,77,620
B-3
10
4
19.05.2020
3,08,38,854
155
4,54,13,130
B-4
11
5
11.08.2020
63,57,01,380
260A
60,48,62,530
B-5
12
6
04.09.2020
109,57,01,380
263
43,46,96,760
B-6
13
7
09.09.2020
143,56,98,084
262
28,93,90,220
B-7
14
8
02.11.2020
213,57,01,380
264
69,96,63,400
B-8
15
Total
207,81,03,660
 
  1. In this regard, reference is made to Annexure – ‘A-1’ and ‘B-1’, which are the copies of acknowledgement of Returns of Income filed by VJM Media Pvt Ltd (now known as Blitz Multimedia Pvt Ltd) for AY 2007-08 & 2008-09. It is seen from the said documents that the said company had claimed credit for Tax Deduction at Source at 6,58,555/- and Rs. 9,42,453/- 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.
  1. The return for A.Y. 2007-08 filed on 10.2007 was downloaded from ITD system (Annexure-A-1). As per the return of income, the assessee (taxpayer) has claimed TDS of only Rs. 6,58,555/-. Similarly, from the return of income for A.Y.2008-09 (Annexure-B-1), it is seen that TDS credit of Rs. 9,42,453/- has been claimed by the assessee. Thus, it is evident from the Table above that the amount of TDS credit has been deliberately manipulated on the ITD system and refunds not due to the assessee have been fraudulently issued.
  2. From the records it is seen that the assessee in its ITR had mentioned the details of its bank account in the form of a Current account with Central Bank of India, Bombay Main On 13.11.2019, an additional Saving Bank Account No. 37759757340 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 the ITD system and all the refunds were credited into it. It appears that the first fraudulent refund had been issued on 13.11.2019. Subsequently, this Bank Account – that is, Saving Bank Account No. 37759757340 with State Bank Of India, Panvel in the name of SB Enterprises – was removed from the ITD System on 08.07.2021.
  3. The conspitators, 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 The details are as follows:
Table 3
Sr.No.
A.Y.
Date of order
Section
Annexure
Page No.
1
2007-08
17.08.2020
263
C-1
18 to 21
2.
2008-09
04.09.2020
263
C-2
22 to 26
3.
2008-09
09.09.2020
262
C-3
27 to 31
4.
2008-09
02.11.2020
264
C-4
32 to 36
 
  1. It is also observed that refund amounting to Rs. 19.51 Lakhs was issued to the assessee in respect of an order u/s 155 of the IT Act, 1961 allegedly passed on 07.2021 for A.Y.2012-13. On comparing the order with the original return of income, it is noticed that though the assessee has claimed TDS credit of Rs. 17,94,957/- the same has been fraudulently inflated to Rs. 31,63,661/- which has resulted in granting excess refund to the assessee. It is noticed that the bank details have been modified and the refund has been credited to the assessee’s original account No. 1787429935 with Central Bank of India. Thus, once the SBI account was deleted from the ITD System, the refund for AY 2012-13 was again credited to account No. 1787429935 with Central Bank of India to remove all trace of the SBI, Panvel bank account.
  2. On 01.2022, the matter was brought to the notice of Pr.CCIT, Mumbai through proper channel who in turn brought the same to the notice of Member (Admin. & Faceless Services), CBDT and also Chairman, CBDT. The matter was also brought to the notice of DGIT(Investigation), Mumbai and on the basis of information gathered, a search was conducted u/s 132 of IT Act on the premises of Tanaji Mandal Adhikari (Sr. Tax Assistant up to 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 Addl. CIT, and has orchestrated the fraud in connivance with another individual, Shri Bhushan Patil and the refunds have been deposited in Bhushan Patil’s SAVING BANK ACCOUNT NO. 37759757340 with STATE BANK OF INDIA, PANVEL.
  3. It is also learnt that this Bank Account is that of a proprietary concern of Shri Bhushan Anant During the Search & seizure action under section 132 of the IT Act, Shri Tanaji has claimed that a person named Rajesh Mathani working for Blitz Multimedia Pvt. Ltd. approached him and persuaded him to pass multiple orders giving credits of fictitious TDS to Blitz Multimedia Pvt. Ltd. and issue refunds fraudulently. However, contact details or whereabouts of Shri Mathani have not been disclosed till now.
  4. During the search action at the premises of Shri Patil, mobile phones and laptops have been found which show that out of the bank account of SB Enterprises, money has been transferred to other The SBI Panvel bank account has a balance of about Rs 93 crores which has been frozen u/s 132(9B) of the I.T. Act.
  5. In the premises of Shri Tanaji, approximately 22 lacs cash has been found. Original documents of 7 properties purchased by Shri Patil have also been found. The search is still under progress. The list of premises covered u/s 132 is given in the Annexure at Page No. 50.
  6. It is also learnt that an amount of about Rs. 7.21 crores has been transferred from the SBI Bank A/c. of SB Enterprises to Lucknow in the ICICI Bank A/c. 628101061329, IFS Code ICIC0006281 in the name Shri Ashish Mehdiratta. From ITR – 3 filed by Shri Ashish Mehdiratta, the details including his address and phone No. have been gathered, which are enclosed as Page 51. Particulars of ICICI Bank Account details at Lucknow in the name of Shri Ashish Mehdiratta are as under:
Table 4
 
Value Date
Description
Ref No./ Cheque No.
Debit
Debited from
Name
Credited to A/c No.
 
 
 
3 of 11
25-
Aug- 20
25-
Aug- 20
CHQ TRANSFER-RTGS UTR NO: SBINR52020082500125375-
-235 ASHISH MEHDIRATTA
235 ASHISH MEHDIRATTA
20,000,047.20
SBI account no.
37759757340
in the name of S B Enterprises, prop. concern of Sh.
Bhushan Anant Patil
ASHISH MEHDIRATTA
628101061329
28-
Aug- 20
28-
Aug- 20
CHQ TRANSFER-RTGS UTR NO: SBINR52020082800084938-
-241 ASHISH MEHDIRATTA
241 ASHISH MEHDIRATTA
52,100,047.20
SBI account no.
37759757340
in the name of S B Enterprises, prop. concern of Sh.
Bhushan Anant Patil
ASHISH MEHDIRATTA
628101061329
  1. Another ICICI Bank A/c. No. 324005001062, IFS Code ICIC0003240, Rakhiyal, Ahmedabad in the name of Daywind Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. has also been credited by transferring fund from the SBI Bank A/c. of SB Enterprises. As substantial amount (exceeding 7 crores) has been transferred out of the proceeds of fraudulently encashed refund from the SBI Panvel Account in the name SB Enterprises to Lucknow in an ICICI Bank Account, and there is strong possibility that in the same manner substantial funds have also been transferred from the same Panvel Account of SBI to Ahmedabad also in ICICI Bank. Thus, proceeds of crime have been transferred to different bank accounts across the country including the ICICI Bank Account in Lucknow and Ahmedabad. Details of ICICI Bank Account at Ahemdabad in the name of Daywind Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., received from Investigation Wing, are annexed at page no.67.
  2. Considering the above, it Prima Facie appears that Shri Tanaji Mandal Adhikari and Shri Bhushan Patil have entered into a criminal conspiracy and intentionally and fraudulently managed to give credits for taxes deducted at source, which is evident from the Tables 1 and 2 Shri Tanaji Mandal 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 Shri Bhushan Anant Patil located at Panvel. Amounts have also been subsequently transferred to ICICI bank accounts at Lucknow and Ahmedabad as details given above.
  3. Looking at the above facts it is evident that money might also have been transferred to some other persons/entities across the country and even outside the
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. Hence, it is requested that a complaint involving criminal conspiracy/fraud may be registered by your Office and necessary appropriate action may be taken at the earliest.
Yours faithfully,
Encl. Annexures as per list enclosed.
                                                                                                              Sd/ 23.01.2022
Munish Kr. Gupta, Additional Director General (Vigilance)-4,
CBDT, New Delhi
List of Annexures
 
Sr.
No.
1
Date of order
Section under which order passed
As per Annexure
AY
Page No
22.11.2008
143(1)
A-7
2007-08
1
2
13.10.2009
143(1)
A-7
2007-08
1
3
31.01.2012
154
A-8
2007-08
2
4
13.11.2019
254
A-2
2007-08
3
5
09.01.2020
250
A-3
2007-08
4
6
19.05.2020
155
A-4
2007-08
5
7
20.07.2020
260A
A-5
2007-08
6
8
17.08.2020
263
A-6
2007-08
7
9
10.10.2009
143(1)
B-9
2008-09
8
10
26.11.2019
250
B-2
2008-09
9
11
09.01.2020
254
B-3
2008-09
10
12
19.05.2020
155
B-4
2008-09
11
13
11.08.2020
260A
B-5
2008-09
12
14
04.09.2020
263
B-6
2008-09
13
15
09.09.2020
262
B-7
2008-09
14
16
02.11.2020
264
B-8
2008-09
15
17
17.08.2020
263
C-1
2007-08
18 to 21
18
04.09.2020
263
C-2
2008-09
22 to 26
19   09.09.2020 262                                        C-3       2008-09 27 to 31
4 of 11
20
02.11.2020
264
C-4
2008-09
32 to 36
21
ITR
D-1
2012-13
37
22
22.10.2013
143(1)
D-2
2012-13
38
23
08.07.2021
155
D-3
2012-13
39
24
08.07.2021
155
D-4
2012-13
40
25
08.07.2021
155
D-5
2012-13
41 to 44
26
Bank Details on ITD
E-1
45
27
Bank Details on ITD
E-2
46
28
Bank Details on ITD
47
29
Bank Details on ITD
48
30
Bank Details on ITD
49
31
Details of Premises covered u/s 132 of IT Act
50
32
ITR 3 of Shri Ashish Mehdiratta
51
33
Anonymous Letter received on 21.01.2022
52 to 66
34
Details of ICICI Bank Account of Daywind Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. at Ahmedabad.
67
35
Details of ICICI Bank Accounts of Shri Ashish Mehdiratta at Lucknow,
68
“
The above information discloses commission of offences punishable U/s. 120-B, 409, 420, 467, 468 & 471 IPC, Section 7 & 13(2) r/w
13(1)(a) of PC Act(as amended in 2018), 1988 and Section 66 of IT Act, 2000 on the part of (i) Shri Tanaji Mandal Adhikari, the then Sr. Tax Assistant and now Inspector of Income Tax, Mumbai, (ii) Shri Bhushan Anant Patil of M/s. SB Enterprises, (iii) Shri. Rajesh Mathani of M/s. VJM Media Pvt Ltd now known as Blitz Multimedia Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, (iv) VJM Media Pvt Ltd now known as Blitz Multimedia Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, (v) Shri Ashish Mehdiratta having A/c. in ICICI Bank A/c. No. 628101061329, IFS Code ICIC0006281, Lucknow, (vi) M/s. Daywind Enterprises Pvt Ltd having ICICI Bank A/c No. 324005001062, IFS Code ICIC0003240, Rakhiyal, Ahmedabad and other unknown Public Servants and Unknown Private Persons.
Therefore, a Regular Case is registered against the above mentioned accused persons under the above mentioned sections of law and entrusted to Shri Pawan Kumar Srivastava, DSP, CBI, AC-1, New Delhi for investigation and report.
  1. Action taken : Since the above information reveals commission of offence(s) u/s as mentioned at Item 2:
1. Registered the case and took up the investigation: Yes
OR
2. Directed
Name of IO:                                              Pawan Kumar Srivastava
Rank:                                                   DY. SUPDT. OF POLICE (AC-I Delhi)
No:                                                                      68325
to take the investigation
OR
3. Refused investigation due to:
OR
4. Transfered To PS:                                                        District:
on point of jurisdiction.
 
Attached documents:
Document name
Complaint Letter
FIR read over to the complainant/informant, admitted to be correctly recorded and a copy given to the complainant / informant, free of cost.
R.O.A.C.
 
  1. Signature/Thumb Impression of the complainant/informant
Signature of Officer
in-charge Police Station
Name:       Atul Kumar Thakur
Rank:        SUPDT. OF POLICE (AC-I Delhi)
  1. Date and time of dispatch to the Court:
 
 
Digitally signed by
Dr. NITIN DEEP BLAGGAN
Date: 2022.01.23 05:30:07 IST
Reason:
Location:




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