NEW DELHI – The Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) department has sent a tax notice of ₹3.14 crore to Omji Shukla, a security guard in Delhi, for what seems like identity theft. Shukla, who makes a paltry ₹10,000 a month, says that someone used his Permanent Account Number (PAN) card to start and run a fake firm.
Shukla told the news agency media that he was shocked when a postman delivered the 32-page notice on August 21. He responded, “Someone has used my PAN card to start businesses in my name.” “They have run a clothing business that made ₹17 crores.” They didn’t pay their taxes. But I got a notice.
The central government charges CGST on the movement of goods and services within a state. The tax bill for a ₹17 crore transaction would be very high, and in this case, the people who did it are said to have avoided paying a tax of ₹3.14 crore.
Shukla is now asking for an outside investigation to find the people responsible and punish them. “Today, I am the one who is hurt. Someone else will be it tomorrow. He said, “I don’t want anyone to have to go through something like this.”
Shukla hasn’t heard from anyone in the tax department since he got the notification, but he has been told to respond to it to officially say that he was the victim of fraud. The event shows that people are becoming more worried about how PAN cards and other personal identifying credentials are being used for financial theft in India.
Shukla’s situation is a sad reminder of how people can unknowingly become victims of big financial crimes, forcing them to deal with a complicated legal and bureaucratic system to clean their reputations. He asked, “Should I blame the department or the person who used my papers in the wrong way?”