The Central Bureau of Investigation has booked an Income-Tax Department inspector, a Mumbai-based company and four others for alleged fraudulent refund of ₹263 crore.
Among those named in the FIR are Income-Tax official, Tanaji Mandal Adhikari, VJM Media Private Limited, which is now known as Blitz Multimedia Private Limited, Bhushan Anant Patil, Rajesh Mathani, Asish Mehdiratta and Daywind Enterprises Private Limited.
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The case has been registered on a complaint from the Central Board of Direct Taxes. The Income-Tax Department had earlier received a tip-off about bogus issuance of refunds in the case of Blitz Multimedia Private Limited for 2007-08 and 2008-09.
On examining the documents, the authorities detected the alleged irregularities. While for 2007-08, the refunded amount was over ₹55.98 crore, for the following year, the figure stood at more than ₹207.81 crore.
“It is also seen from the orders... that various refunds were issued subsequently between November 2019 and November 2020 on the ITD system after manipulating and increasing the amount of tax deducted at source as against the genuine claim of TDS made by the said company," said the FIR.
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The Income-Tax Department said Mr. Adhikari had access to the login credentials of his supervisory authorities. He claimed that a person named Rajesh Mathani working for Blitz Multimedia had approached him to get issued multiple orders giving credits for fictitious TDS to the company and facilitate fraudulent refunds. However, his contact details and whereabouts are not yet known.
It is alleged that a portion of the funds in question was transferred in the name of Mr. Mehdiratta and Daywind Enterprises.