Man made director of 80 private firms by scamming kin

KOLKATA: A 58-year-old employee of a private firm in Burrabazar has lodged a police complaint against one of his close relatives, an income tax agent, after he allegedly found that the latter had supplied his documents to multiple investment firms. The complainant was shocked more to have found that he had been made director of at least 80 companies in Bengal and other states.
The complainant said since 2007, he had been providing his salary statements, photo ID card copies, photographs and banking details to the agent, who happens to be his close relative.

“I used to give him all these documents every year as he had promised to file the I-T return for me. As he was a close relative, I did not suspect any foul play,” the complainant told TOI at his rented house at Hatkhola in north Kolkata. He said he started receiving letters from several government agencies and income tax department from 2017. Though he did not pay much heed to the letters initially, he suspected some foul play after government officials started visiting his home. “I contacted a lawyer and was shocked to find that I had been made director of some 80 companies. I am a poor man who survive on a salary of Rs 10,000 per month. We don’t even have a home of our own,” said the complainant.
On realising the fraud, he caught hold of the relative, demanding an explanation. The agent allegedly beat him up and threatened him with dire consequences.
“I moved the court and a complaint was registered with Jorabagan police station against the relative and some other unidentified people,” said the 58-year-old. A senior officer of Kolkata Police said they had received the complaint and started a case under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) against the accused. “We have registered an FIR and are probing into the case,” said the officer.
The family of four from Rajasthan has been living at the Shankar Halder Bylane address in Hatkhola for the several decades as tenants. “Most of the companies where I have been made the director are dubious and criminal cases have already been registered against its original directors. I am a poor man and was never associated with any of these companies,” said the complainant, whose next court hearing is due later this month.