13 PAN cards, one address

Nagpur Income Tax Commissioner Ajoy Kumar Singh (46) is charged with doing what his department is dedicated to curbing — concealing wealth, reports Manish Pachouly.

Nagpur Income Tax Commissioner Ajoy Kumar Singh (46) is charged with doing what his department is dedicated to curbing — concealing wealth.

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Singh made 13 Permanent Account Number (PAN) cards in the names of his relatives based in Bihar and Hyderabad, all of which bore a single Mumbai address, which was fake.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had on Sunday arrested Singh and his wife Mrinalika (44) in Nagpur for amassing wealth vastly disproportionate to his known sources of income. The CBI has so far unearthed assets and property worth Rs 5 crore.

Singh was arrested in connection with a disproportionate assets case registered against him on February 22, 2007, while he was posted in Mumbai as Additional Commissioner of I-T.

A senior CBI official, who refused to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media, said that the PAN cards had address of a small shop situated in an air-conditioned market in Tardeo. “The address had nothing to do with Singh or his relatives who are based in Jamshedpur, Patna and Hyderabad.”

The CBI also found that Singh had purchased five flats in Mumbai on the names of his close relatives. Even after the CBI had registered a case against him in 2007, Singh purchased few properties in Indore and Nagpur in his relatives’ names.

Singh and his wife will be brought to Mumbai early on Tuesday. They would be produced before the Special CBI court on Tuesday.