Mumbai: The special PMLA court has refused to grant bail to Purushottam Chavan, husband of senior IPS officer, arrested in connection with Rs 263 crore Income Tax TDS refund fraud case.
Chavan was arrested on May 20 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). As per the prosecution case, former Income-Tax (I-T) officer Tanaji Mandal Adhikari allegedly generated fake TDS refunds to the tune of Rs263 crore when he was posted in I-T’s Mumbai office.
ED has claimed that Chavan and businessman Rajesh Batreja's role surfaced during ED's probe to trace the proceeds of crime (POC). It was claimed that Adhikari had transferred the proceeds of crime to Dubai and parked it with one Sheikh Mohammad Ibrahim Abdulaziz Almualla. It is claimed that Chavan and Batreja helped the accused siphon off the funds to Dubai.
ED claimed that during the period from August 2023 to November 2023, Batreja and Purushottam have dealt with POC of Rs11 crore. Batreja allegedly brought back the POC from Dubai through hawala channel and his partners in Dubai helped in arranging the said funds in India.
While it claimed that Chavan is using International SIM cards of United Kingdom and UAE and has been frequently visiting various countries during the period of commission of offence and thereafter.
"Batreja and Chavan were arranging further investments for M/s Ventugrow Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and M/s Clensta International Pvt. Ltd. and Chavan also incorporated new company in Dubai with the help of Nayeem Subedar of Dubai in December 2023. Further, Chavan also withdrew AED 50,000 from the Overseas bank account of Batreja," ED claimed.
