A tax consultant from Palghar has allegedly duped his distant relative, a soybean trader based in Junnar, to the tune of Rs45 lakh by failing to pay Goods and Services Tax (GST) on his behalf between 2023 and 2025. The trader lodged a complaint with the Junnar police on Friday, leading to the registration of a case against the accused.
According to an officer from the Junnar police, the complainant and the accused are distant relatives. In February 2023, the accused tax consultant approached the trader and offered to handle his GST-related work. The complainant agreed, trusting the accused because he had previously helped him recover Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) during the financial year 2021-22. The annual charges for the tax work were fixed at Rs30,000.
The accused obtained the complainant's username and password for the GST portal and immediately changed them, barring the trader from accessing the portal. Between April 2023 and February 2025, the complainant transferred a total of Rs77 lakh to the accused for GST payments. However, when the trader repeatedly asked for the login credentials, the accused refused to provide them.
With the help of a friend, the complainant managed to reset the password and gain access to the GST portal. Upon checking the payment history, he discovered that the accused had paid only Rs32 lakh towards GST and had misappropriated the remaining Rs45 lakh. The accused had also provided fake payment receipts to the complainant to conceal the fraud.
When the accused failed to return the money despite multiple follow-ups, the complainant approached the police. The accused has been booked under sections 316 (criminal breach of trust) and 318 (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Investigations are ongoing.
