Pune youngster dupes income tax department of Rs2.13 cr

The Swargate police have booked a person who allegedly duped the income tax (IT) department of Swargate office to the tune Rs2.13 crore after stealing their cheque book and forging the signature of an IT officer, from March 11 to June 26, 2011.

Interestingly, the suspect, Girish Baburao Patel alias Shailesh Chunilal Gandhi alias Lalchand Omkar Patel, carries three PAN cards with different names but same non-existent address and accounts in three banks having same photograph but different documents. According to the police, the suspect mentioned his address as Natu building, Bajirao Road, 1523, Shukrawar Peth.
IT officer Jalja Subhash Jadhav, 51, of Swargate IT office has lodged the complaint.

As per the complaint, the cheating came to light after the IT officials noticed that the PAN cards were made in 2009, but no tax was paid.

However, an amount to the tune of Rs2.13 crore was deposited in his account as refund. When the officials enquired with the banks, they found that the accused had put the same photograph for all three accounts in three banks.

Jadhav stated in her complaint that “it was found that the accused had stolen a cheque book from IT office and forged the signature of former IT officer Varghese Philip, besides using a fake stamp of the IT department”.

The police official said that Girish (PAN BDOPP0002M) had withdrawn Rs64.95 lakh from the Bank of Maharashtra’s Tilak Road branch using seven cheques for refund amount for the financial years 2003-2010. While Shailesh (PAN ASQPG9096E) had withdrawn Rs72.98 lakh from Suwarnyug Sahkari Bank’s Budhwar Peth branch after depositing seven cheques for the financial years 2002-2009. Lalchand (PAN BDOPP6150Q) had withdrawn Rs75.43 lakh from Union Bank of India’s city branch after depositing four cheques for the financial years 2006-2010.

The police have booked the accused for forgery, cheating and theft under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

Police inspector (crime) SN Kamble of Swargate police station and investigating officer told DNA, “The suspect had given bogus address to the bank, but the photograph is original. He has also submitted more cheques in different banks, hence the net amount would increase.”

In a similar incident, on January 20, the police had arrested Sheela Santosh Chineewar, 27, of Ghulenagar on Sinhagad Road for allegedly duping the IT department of Rs21.5 lakh. Chineewar was a temporary computer operator-cum-clerk at Swargate IT office.