New Delhi, August 27: In what is believed to be a case of a data breach, the Permanent Account Number (PAN) of a 27-year old Delhi man was being misused by bogus firms to make money by undertaking massive business deals with companies abroad. The PAN breach came to light after the man, identified as Anuj Kumar Srivastav, got a notice by the Income Tax department in January. Srivastav was shocked to know that he has a massive business empire and is a director of 13 firms. According to a report by The Indian Express, Srivastav works as a sales executive with a pharma company, earns Rs 25,000 per month and lives at a rented flat in east Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar area.

After the notice by the IT department months ago, he got to know that he was a director of 13 companies and had done transactions worth over Rs 20 crore. The report further informs that out of many deals, one was by a Hong Kong-based company totalling Rs 61 lakh. As soon as the 27-year old got to know about these transactions under his name, he lodged a complaint with Delhi Police and the Enforcement Directorate in February. In his complaint, he stated that his PAN number had been used without his knowledge by bogus companies for huge dealings with companies abroad.

According to the Indian Express report, a Delhi court on July 31 ordered the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police to act on the complaint and furnish a detailed report on September 1. Srivastav now hopes that the I-T department will rectify the mistake. In his order, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Sumedh Kumar Sethi said, “Cases involving cheating and breach of trust for amount more than Rs 2 crore are to be dealt with by the EOW… Copy of the order be sent to SHO, EOW.”

The report quotes Srivastav saying that he first got the I-T notice in January and didn’t take it seriously and thought they have mistakenly sent them. He informed that the IT department had written that my PAN card was used to carry out a transaction on April 23, 2015, wherein Rs 61.37 lakh was allegedly remitted from one Maxkart Impex company to Dynamic Telecon Trading Ltd situated at Bright Way Tower in Mong Kok Road,” he said.

According to the report, Srivastav said that he came to know that situation was serious when he received a call from an IT official who informed him that the transaction was carried forward from Janakpuri branch of a national bank. “The payment was made allegedly in lieu of import of software where I was made as a proprietor of Maxkart Impex company,” Srivastav was quoted in the report.

Reports inform that he went to the bank along with a CA to check if it and the bank manager showed him a photocopy of his voter ID card, PAN card and my photo but the signature did not match. He then approached a lawyer and filed a complaint with the Delhi Police and the ED. He found out that he had been made the director of around 13 companies and his PAN card was used to create bogus accounts from which transactions of Rs 20 crore were carried out in the last seven months.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 27, 2018 10:19 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).