In the latest development of the Rs 263 crore Income Tax Refund (ITR) fraud case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has apprehended the spouse of a senior IPS officer from Maharashtra.
Purshottam Chavan, who the ED claims to be involved in the possession of part of the Proceeds of Crime (POC), was taken into custody on Monday under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. He was presented before a special PMLA court, which remanded him to the custody of the ED until May 27.
However, the ED has not yet discovered any evidence suggesting that the IPS officer aided her husband in any way. This IPS officer played a crucial role in apprehending the culprits in the ‘Bulli Bai’ app or Clubhouse cases in 2022, where images of Muslim women were posted with an attempt to “auction” them, and objectionable content was shared in the chatrooms.
Prior to this, the ED had arrested four individuals in connection with the case — former Income-Tax (I-T) officer Tanaji Mandal Adhikari, Bhushan Patil, and Rajesh Shetty, who are currently in judicial custody. Another accused, Rajesh Brijlal Batreja, is in the custody of the ED.
Adhikari, who was apprehended by the Central agency last year, allegedly generated fake Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) refunds amounting to Rs 263 crore during his tenure at the I-T Department’s Mumbai office.
The ED’s actions are part of its ongoing investigation based on the First Information Report (FIR) filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Delhi, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The case is against Adhikari and others for fraudulently generating and issuing TDS refunds from the Income Tax department, totaling Rs 263.95 crore.
During its investigation, the Central agency uncovered that Rajesh Batreja and Chavan were in regular communication and exchanged incriminating messages related to hawala transactions and the diversion of proceeds of the crime, as stated by the ED.
Furthermore, the ED conducted a raid at Chavan’s residence on Sunday, seizing several property documents, foreign currency, and mobile phones. The agency alleges that Chavan attempted to obstruct the investigation by destroying evidence, which could have led to the tracing of the proceeds of the crime.
The anti-money laundering agency has already seized and attached immovable and movable properties worth Rs 168 crore belonging to the accused individuals in Maharashtra and Karnataka.