26 August,2024 06:02 PM IST | Mumbai | Faizan Khan
Representative image
The Colaba Police have taken a man into custody for impersonating a chartered accountant and defrauding a businessman from South Mumbai. The accused, identified as Aftab Memon, under the pretext of helping, Jay Dhani, a businessman, register for a new GST account, collected KYC details which he then used to create obscure companies.
An officer told mid-day, "Using counterfeit invoices issued through these firms, Memon misappropriated GST payments amounting to Rs 1.30 crore which should have been deposited into the government treasury."
The fraud came to light in April this year when Dhani, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation contractor, received notices from the Maharashtra GST department regarding a GST default amounting to Rs 1.5 crore. Dhani, however, had not registered his firm or opened any GST account, until this notice.
In 2023, Dhani sought to open GST accounts and was introduced to Aftab Memon by an acquaintance, Ayub Memon. Aftab misrepresented himself as a chartered accountant and offered his services to help Dhani with his GST registration and compliance.
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Memon allegedly created the GST account using the mobile number of a timber dealer in South Mumbai rather than Dhani's own. Memon's activities had a tremendous impact on Dhani's business operations. Dhani first accepted Memon based on his alleged professional qualifications, but then uncovered irregularities in his financial records, prompting him to suspect foul play.
After investigating further, Dhani uncovered the extent of the fraud and reported the matter to the authorities, leading to the filing of the FIR. It detailed how Memon used his knowledge to divert funds intended for GST payments into his own accounts by securing OTPs and other sensitive information under the guise of assisting Dhani.
Memon was arrested on Friday by the Colaba police and has been charged under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including cheating, forgery, breach of trust, and criminal conspiracy (IPC Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, and 120B), as well as Section 74 of the Goods and Services Tax Act. Following his arrest, Memon was presented in court and has been remanded to police custody.
