Mumbai: ED provisionally attaches assets of ₹ 69.65 cr in fraudulent TDS refund case

Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday provisionally attached 32 assets, including land plots and flats, estimated to be around Rs 69.65 crore, in Maharashtra and Karnataka, as part of a money-laundering probe in a case related to alleged fraudulent issuance of Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) refund of Rs263 crore from the Income Tax (IT) Department. The fraudulent TDS refunds pertained to assessment years 2007-08 and 2008-09, ED officials said. 

Various properties in Mumbai, Pune, etc. and luxury cars are included as assets

The fraudulent refunds were undertaken allegedly by then IT official Tanaji Mandal Adhikari, a senior tax assistant, and a few others. Besides immovable properties at Lonavala, Khandala, Karjat, Pune and Udupi (Karnataka), flats at Panvel and Mumbai, the attachments included assets such as luxury cars (BMW X7, Mercedes GLS400d, Audi Q7) held in the name of accused persons, the agency said. The attached assets were identified as the case’s crime proceeds.

The ED’s probe is based on a CBI case registered by one of its Delhi units (Anti-Corruption-1) on receipt of a written complaint from the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)’s Additional Director General (Vigilance)-4. 

Senior tax assistant Tanaji Mandal Adhikari orchestrated the fraud in connivance with others

As per the complaint, Adhikari, while working as a senior tax assistant, allegedly had access to login credentials of his supervisory authorities. He allegedly orchestrated the fraud in connivance with others and transferred the proceeds in various bank accounts, including that of a proprietary concern of an accused person, the agency said.

ED sources said that out of the total proceeds of crime of Rs 263 crore, assets worth Rs 166 crore have been seized/ frozen/ attached provisionally so far. Earlier, orders to freeze under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in respect of 33 bank accounts of various accused entities having a balance of Rs 96.23 crore and cash seizure worth Rs2.85 lakh were also issued in the case.

The ED’s probe revealed that from Nov 15, 2019 to Nov 2020, a total of 12 fraudulent TDS refunds were generated allegedly by Adhikari. The probe also found that one such property was sold in Gurugram (Haryana); it was acquired in 2021 out of the case’s crime’s proceeds and was worth Rs1.02 crore.