CBI Probes ₹1.26 Crore Tax Refund Scam By Ex-Canara Bank Associate Who Misused Login Credentials

Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has launched an investigation, against a person hired by the Canara Bank, for allegedly committing a fraudulent tax refund scam using his previous access to the bank’s systems. The probe has revealed that the accused had fraudulently obtained refunds amounting to Rs1.26 crore for 92 individuals using their PAN details. He collected 25% of the respective refund amounts from these individuals as his commission/share.

According to the CBI, reliable information was that Ratnadeep Borkar, a resident of Nagpur was engaged by Canara Bank for preparing and uploading TDS returns through the TIN Facilitation Centre. From 2011-12 to 201819, Borkar filed original Form 26Q / TDS returns for the Sitabuldi, Gandhinagar, Ramdaspeth and Sadar branches of Canara Bank at Nagpur. The source further informed that these returns were uploaded on the TRACES portal using TRACES User IDs generated by officials of the respective Canara Bank branches. Services of Borkar were discontinued by Canara Bank after the end of the financial year 2018-19.

Despite his services being discontinued after 2018-19, Borkar illegally kept the login details for Canara Bank’s TRACES account. He then located entries where Canara Bank had deducted tax at source but the Permanent Account Numbers (PANs) were missing. Borkar manipulated these entries by inserting PANs of people he knew. This led to the acceptance of revised TDS returns containing these fraudulent PANs. Subsequently, between July 21, 2023, and September 22, 2024, Borkar filed Income Tax Returns for 92 individuals using these fraudulently inserted PANs, the CBI FIR said.

From November 6, 2023, to December 13, 2024, he fraudulently obtained refunds totaling Rs1.26 crore for these individuals, taking a 25% commission. The CBI's FIR indicates a strong possibility of bank officials' involvement, given the circumstances, the CBI stated in its FIR.

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