M A I N   N E W S

CBI unearths major IT refund scam
Conducts raids in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 11
The CBI today claimed to have unearthed a major fraud of income tax refunds on the basis of forged Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) certificates running into more than Rs 87 lakh during raids conducted at 11 places in Delhi, Rohtak, Bhiwani, Jagraon (Ludhiana) and Faridkot.

The search operation has resulted in the seizure of a large number of documents, including blank cheques of different banks, rubber stamps of fictitious companies, ledgers showing TDS refunds and photographs of different individuals in whose names the TDS refunds have been claimed and received.

Besides books of articles of associations of different companies involved fraud, photocopies of forged TDS certificates, computers containing incriminating data, income tax refund files of bogus companies and original refund orders issued by the Income Tax Department were also seized, a CBI press note claimed here today.

A CBI spokesperson claimed that on preliminary examination the seized documents and articles strengthen evidence connecting the accused persons to the crime and also reveals the conspiracy among the public servants and private persons.

“The magnitude of the fraud was enormous and related to the states of Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Assam, West Bengal, UP, Kerala and Haryana,” he said and added that “the documents also clearly bring out the nexus between some Income Tax officials, chartered accountants and advocates.”

According to one of the three FIRs registered so far, five income tax officials — R.S. Ranga, V.K. Jain, Ashok Kilayan, Anil Singla and Pawan Sharma, allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy with chartered accountants — S.K. Bansal, Naresh Kumar Gupta, and others with the objective to defraud the Income Tax Department.

The two chartered accountants filed income tax returns of fictitious firms and claimed refund on the basis of forged TDS certificates thus defrauding the government of Rs 43.38 lakh, the spokesman said.

In the second case, the CBI alleged that four income tax officials — M.C. Sharma, A.K. Mehta, Dharam Singh Narwal, and V. K. Gupta entered into a criminal conspiracy with two chartered accountants — S.K. Bansal and Naresh Kumar Gupta, with the objective to cheat the department.

As per their conspiracy, the two chartered accountants allegedly prepared and filed income tax returns in the name of some fictitious firms for different assessment years and claimed refund of Rs 11.97 lakh by showing fake TDS certificates, the spokesman quoting the FIR claimed.

The CBI registered a third case against Ranga, Paramjit Singh, Hari Chand, Sadhu Singh and Ram Lubhava (all Income Tax officials), advocates Amarjit Singh and Hukum Chand Gupta and chartered accountant Naresh Kumar Gupta for claiming tax refunds on basis of fake TDS certificates.

The spokesman said the accused allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy and defrauded the government of Rs 33.37 lakh.