ED arrests habitual offender involved in bank frauds, sent to custody for 7 days in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday announced the arrest of a habitual offender involved in bank loan fraud, identity theft and misuse, and income tax refund scams.

The suspect, Dilip B R, assumed multiple fake identities and obtained several PAN cards. He assumed three different identities as Dilip B R, Dilip Rajegowda, and Dilip Balaganchi Rajegowda to obtain three different PAN cards.

ED arrested Dilip on Monday under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), after which a Bengaluru court remanded him in ED custody for seven days.

He has been involved in the identity theft of multiple individuals to open multiple bank accounts. Using forged documents, Dilip has allegedly defrauded several banks by obtaining vehicle loans under false pretences, according to a release by ED.

“One of the key fraudulent tactics used by Dilip involved the manipulation of income tax returns to secure access to non-genuine refunds. He has exploited vulnerabilities in the Kaveri and Jamabandi portals of Karnataka and Haryana State government to gather data on non-resident taxpayers who had sold property in India with significant TDS deductions,” said the premiere investigating agency.

Using Aadhar and PAN data from property records, he forged documents to open bank accounts in the names of his targets, specifically choosing banks with lax KYC requirements.

Thereafter, he accessed the e-filing portal of the Income Tax department through these accounts, revised the ITRs to reduce tax liabilities, and increased refund amounts, said the ED.

“Finally, he used fraudulent accounts to transfer the refunds to bank accounts under his control. Preliminary investigation suggests that he has generated more than Rs 10 crore and laundered them into gold, jewellery, cash and investment into cryptocurrencies,” ED said.