Mumbai: Five persons, including three Income
Tax department officials and a television artist, have been
arrested on charges of duping the department to the tune of Rs
three crore by filing fake I-T returns of PAN card holders and
illegally transferring refunds in their own accounts, CBI said
here on Sunday.
The accused were identified as Dilip Vyas, I-T inspector
Pramod Prabhakar, senior tax assistant Rajesh Pillai, I-T
employee Raju Nagpure and television artiste Manoj Sangtiyani,
CBI officials said.
While the main accused Vyas was nailed on February 17,
the rest were arrested today, they said, adding that four more
accused Mohan Ghadge, Sandeep Roy, Nidan Dalvi and I-T
employee Shrikant are still absconding.
The officials said although Rs three crore fraud has come
into light so far, the cheating amount may go over Rs 14
crore.
Explaining the modus operandi, CBI Joint Director (west
zone) R R Singh said, "Vyas, posing as a chartered accountant,
has collected PAN card numbers from 23 persons and bank
account details and blank post-dated cheques signed by them.
"He then prepared fake IT returns, computation sheets and
other related documents of these PAN card holders and provided
the details to his aide Prabhakar.
"Subsequently, Prabhakar entered the said data into the
computer system of IT department and generated e-refund which
was electronically transferred to bank accounts of the PAN
card holders."
Vyas then transferred the I-T refunds in his and aides`
bank accounts in United Bank of India and Kotak Mahindra Bank
using signed cheques issued by the PAN card holders, leaving
one per cent of the refund amount in the holders accounts,
Singh said.
"In this manner, the accused have transferred about Rs
three crore in their account in the last seven months. The
accused had another 70 PAN card holders` details. The fraud
might go over Rs 14 crore," he said.
The cheating came to light when one of the I-Ts top
officials were tipped off about it on January 19, Singh said.
"Prabhakar knew all loopholes in the Information
Technology Department and practises of the I-T department and
took advantage of them to execute their plan," Singh said.
Stating that the software of the I-T is incapable of
making online checking of the TDS payments, Singh said the
officials should also regularly change their passwords to
prevent misuse of the system.
CBI is also probing if the 23 genuine PAN card holders
had any idea about the fraudulent practice by the accused, he
said.
PTI
