Sudhir Kumar, a small-town confectioner, found himself facing an unimaginable financial demand after his personal identification documents were misused by unknown individuals to create multiple firms in Delhi—a cautionary story about the hazards of identity theft in India’s digital age.
Tax Shock Arrives by Post
A modest confectioner in Bulandshahr, Sudhir Kumar, received a jarring surprise when he was served a Rs 141-crore income tax notice. The notice, issued for the financial years 2021-23, referenced six companies allegedly registered under his name in Delhi—companies Kumar insists he knew nothing about. Kumar, whose monthly income ranges between Rs 10,000 and 12,000, was perplexed by the scale of the tax demand and immediately suspected foul play.
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Aadhaar, PAN Misuse and Official Apathy
Kumar told investigators he believed that his Aadhaar and PAN cards had been fraudulently used to open the companies in 2022 by unknown persons. He described the situation as a clear case of fraud that exploited his documents without his knowledge or consent. Despite the overwhelming evidence of wrongdoing, when he initially approached local police, his complaint was dismissed as a matter for the income tax department to resolve. That bureaucratic back-and-forth left him stranded, unsure how his sensitive information was ever compromised in the first place.
Legal Recourse After Refusal
Only after the official tax notice landed, Kumar visited Bulandshahr’s senior superintendent of police, Dinesh Kumar Singh, who ordered an FIR to be registered against the six Delhi-based firms under BNS section 318 (cheating). Police opened a probe to determine if Kumar’s documents had been used to open these companies and began searching for those responsible. Kumar, for his part, said he always assumed he would receive a one-time password for any legitimate use of his documents and could not explain how his private data had been misused.
A Cautious Response and Ongoing Investigation
As the probe unfolds, police are working to establish who was behind the fraudulent enterprises and how Kumar’s identity became a tool for such a large-scale scam. After receiving the tax notice in July, Kumar also responded through government online portals, attempting to clear his name and seek redress. Senior officers stress their commitment to uncovering the chain of identity theft, as Kumar awaits answers on how a humble confectioner became entangled in a multi-crore financial scandal.