Karnataka: I-T refund fraudster owned oil mill in Hassan, faked loan docus

Even as police investigation into the alleged cybercrime fraud by Dilip Raje Gowda — arrested for allegedly hacking into income tax e-filing and other government portals and illegally siphoning off I-T refunds — continues, more interesting facts are emerging.

A mechanical engineer who worked with different private firms in Bengaluru for over three years, Gowda purchased an oil mill in Hassan where he suffered a huge loss. To recover the same, he availed a bank loan in 2008 and later produced forged documents, saying he had repaid the loan.

Now, two more new fraud cases allegedly involving Gowda have been reported in Dharwad and Yeshwantpur. In the Yeshwantpur case, Gowda allegedly siphoned off Rs 77 lakh, also an I-T refund. Details of the Dharwad case are awaited.

Gowda told police: “Initially, I succeeded in producing fake documents showing that I had repaid the loan (a few lakh rupees) availed from a bank in Hassan. I had sold some property in Hassan during the same time and while dealing with the sub-registrar’s office, I discovered many loopholes in the system. That took me into a detailed study of the Kaveri online portal.”

According to Gowda, after logging into the Kaveri portal, he’d select people who would have uploaded details of their properties sold recently and waiting for their I-T refund. The portal would have details like name, address, PAN and other documents related to the properties sold.

Copying them (including PAN) Gowda would open a new bank account in the name of the victim and then log into the I-T e-filing portal and submit the same documents for I-T refund.

Police said they will have to question Gowda’s wife as they have found Rs 5 lakh in her bank account. “We are not aware if she knows about the fraudulent activities of her husband. We first have to seize the money,” said police.

This article has been republished from The Times of India