BENGALURU: Four BBMP employees and one suspected imposter are under police scanner for allegedly pocketing nearly Rs 4 lakh they collected as property tax, thereby causing loss to the exchequer. All five have been booked in different cases, including one filed by a BBMP official.
The suspects allegedly generated fake bills that were given to taxpayers. In the first case, Banashankari police registered a cheating, forgery and criminal breach of trust case against four revenue staffers based on a complaint filed by Dinesh Kumar Jain, a businessman.
Jain, who owns a property at Bhairappa Block in Tyagarajanagar, visited the BBMP office on April 22, 2018 to pay pending property taxes for 10 years — 2008 to 2018. He alleged: “I met revenue inspector Ramaiah H and revenue collector Srinivasa. First they said I must pay Rs 3.5 lakh as tax for 10 years, including penalty and interest. Then they assured me they could help me save Rs 1 lakh if I paid the tax in cash instead of doing so online. I believed them and gave Rs 2.5 lakh to Ramaiah. As per their instructions, data- entry operators Manju and Pradeep gave me receipts for the payment.”
While Jain had thought his dues had been cleared, he learnt about the scam when he tried making another tax payment — this time online.
According to the complainant, his online attempt to pay tax for 2019 was rejected. “On June 18, 2022, he went to the BBMP office in Yediyur and enquired about the issue. BBMP officials told him he hadn’t paid tax since 2008 and hence his payment wasn’t being accepted. When he produced the receipts for the Rs 2.5 lakh he had paid in 2018, the officials informed him that they were fake bills,” said a police source.
On June 24, Jain approached Banashankari police and filed a complaint against Ramaiah, Srinivasa, Manju and Pradeep. Police said they have summoned the suspects for investigation and will arrest them if preliminary probe proves the allegations.
In the other case, a woman, Shamshad Begum, alleged that Palike staff collected more than Rs 1.4 lakh as property tax from her and gave fake receipts. Based on Begum’s allegation, BBMP revenue inspector Anand KS filed a police complaint.
KR Puram police have registered a cheating, forgery and criminal breach of trust case against the suspect, identified as Sathish.
Anand told police a person identifying himself as Sathish, a data-entry operator, visited Begum’s house two years ago and informed her about non-payment of property tax and collected more than Rs 1.4 lakh from her.
Begum learned about the fraud on June 22, when she visited the BBMP office in Bhattarahalli to pay property tax. The BBMP staff informed her she hadn’t paid tax since 2018. Begum produced a receipt of Rs 73,995 for 2018-19 and another receipt of Rs 68,141 for 2019-20. However, as in the case of Jain, the BBMP staff said the receipts were fake.
The tax payment history for Begum’s property showed the last payment was made on October 15, 2019 (Rs 19,715). In his plaint, Anand stated there was no staffer named Sathish.
