An alleged scammer was recently held from Ahmedabad for reportedly duping the Income Tax (I-T) department a record 60 times. The accused, Kamlesh Shah, used to ingeniously claim the unaccounted cash seized by the department and return it to tax evaders in lieu of hefty commissions, said the officials. His wife Meena and accomplices Devang Vyas, Gaurang Panchal and Ramesh Thakkar are also under the scanner, they added.

Describing Shah's modus operandi, the officials said that he used to produce bogus documents linked to agriculture business for claiming the cash seized during raids. He used to allegedly claim that the impounded amount was lent by him to the tax evaders.

According to senior officials, Shah produced backdated fake loan documents and orchestrated the fraud using agricultural trading and jewellery business as fronts to provide cash entries. The money was returned for a 30% commission to companies, promoters, businessmen, builders and traders raided by the I-T department, explained the officials.

In this way, he allegedly helped tax evaders, including companies and individuals, to escape the 77% taxes and other penalties – which exceeded the amount seized – on unaccounted cash.

“The accused exploited loopholes in the system to show himself as the owner of confiscated cash and manage dupe the department repeatedly,” admitted an embarrassed senior official.