Patan: A tea vendor in the city was shocked to receive an income tax (I-T) department notice, demanding he pay a Rs 49 crore penalty for illicit transactions totaling Rs 34 crore found in his account. He later discovered that two brothers, to whom he had been serving tea for about a decade, had fraudulently used his credentials for illegal activities.

As per the FIR at Patan B Division Police, Khemraj Dave of Kankrej in Banaskantha has been running his tea stall at the Patan commodity market since 2014. Dave had been serving tea to the office of Alpesh Patel and Vipul Patel from Unjha in Mehsana since 2014. In 2014, Dave sought Alpesh’s help to link his PAN card with his bank account, giving him his Aadhaar card, PAN card, and eight photos. The next day, Alpesh visited Dave’s tea stall, had him sign multiple documents, and later returned Dave’s Aadhaar card while taking a photocopy, citing I-T department requirements.

Around a decade later, Dave received two IT notices, but as they were in English, he did not respond. In August 2023, when he was served with a third notice, he went to Advocate Suresh Joshi, who explained that it was a tax penalty for illegal transactions during the financial years 2014-15 and 2015-16. Since there were no such transactions in his account, he met with an IT officer in Patan. The IT officer revealed that someone else had opened an account in his name and was using it.

When Dave filed a complaint, Alpesh and his brother Vipul’s scheme was exposed. The Patan city B Division police registered a case against the accused for breach of trust, cheating, forgery, forgery with intent to cheat, producing forged documents as genuine, criminal conspiracy, and abetment. Dave’s advocate, Suresh Joshi, noted that the brothers were questioned but have not yet been arrested.