A man in Thane is under investigation for allegedly stealing a senior citizen's identity to create shell companies and evade GST payments, highlighting the growing concern of financial fraud.
A man has been booked in Bhiwandi in Thane district for allegedly misusing identity documents of a senior citizen and his family to operate five firms to evade GST payments, a police official said on Monday.
The accused had approached the 67-year-old victim with the promise of getting him a business loan, the Bhiwandi city police station official said.
"Under the pretext of processing the loan application, the 55-year-old accused allegedly obtained the personal documents of the complainant, his wife and children. The accused then used these documents to clandestinely start five separate firms in their names between February 2012 and December 2022," the official said.
The accused conducted business transactions through these firms and failed to pay the required GST, and a probe has found he has cheated others with the same modus operandi, the official added.
A case was registered under Indian Penal Code for cheating, forgery and other offences, though no arrest has been made so far, the official informed.