MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested an income tax (I-T) inspector Tanaji Mandal Adhikari, his businessman associates Bhushan Patil and Rajesh Shetty in a money laundering case connected to fraudulent tax deducted at source (TDS) refunds amounting to Rs 264 crore. A special court on Friday remanded them in ED's custody till July 24.
In February, the ED had questioned Patil's girlfriend and GST inspector-turned-actor Kriti Verma in the case. The fraud was "orchestrated by I-T inspector Tanaji Mandal Adhikari along with Patil."
Adhikari would use the log-in ID and passwords of his senior officers in the I-T department to clear the bogus TDS refund claim in Patil's company account. Within a year, from November 2019 to November 2020, Adhikari cleared 12 fraudulent TDS refunds amounting Rs 264 crore. ED alleged that the entire proceeds of crime were routed to the bank account Patil's firm and from there diverted to other accounts,
Adhikari fraudulently generated a refund exceeding Rs 264 crore and credited it in the account of SB Enterprises, a proprietary concern of Patil. The SB Enterprises' name was added in the I-T system by Adhikari in an illegal and fraudulent manner by using his senior officer's access code and all the refunds were credited into it. Afterwards various immovable properties were purchased in Patil's name. Part of the money was also diverted to various personal bank accounts of Patil, and Adhikari was having access to debit/credit cards of those bank accounts for withdrawing/transferring money whenever he required. Adhikari had also transferred Rs 55.5 crore from those accounts into shell companies. He also transferred Rs 34 crore from Patil's account to Shetty, his wife and their firm's bank accounts. ED alleged that "Patil and Shetty played crucial roles in layering and placement of proceeds of crime."
In January, the ED had issued a press release stating that it had attached 32 properties in Maharashtra and Karnataka worth Rs 70 crore in the case. The press note said that the attached properties are in the form of lands in Lonavla, Khandala, Karjat, Pune and Udupi, flats in Panvel and Mumbai and three luxury cars. These properties are in the name of Bhushan Patil, Rajesh Shetty, Sarika Shetty, Kriti Verma and others.
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