A labourer from Uttar Pradesh’s Mirzapur district has approached police alleging that his own brother-in-law used his identity documents to open a bank account without his knowledge, an account subsequently linked to transactions worth ₹41 crore and an alleged tax and GST liability of nearly ₹7 crore. The case, which surfaced after an Income Tax Department notice landed at his door nearly three years after the account was allegedly opened, illustrates a pattern of document-based identity fraud that has repeatedly ensnared India’s poorest citizens.
A Job Promise That Became a Paper Trail
According to the complaint filed by Shyam Babu Bind, a resident of Lokapur village under Padri police station limits, the alleged fraud traces back to 2021, when his brother-in-law persuaded him to travel first to Ghaziabad and then to Delhi with the promise of securing him employment. During this process, the relative allegedly collected Bind’s Aadhaar card, PAN card and other identity documents, telling him they were needed to complete employment formalities.
Bind alleges that instead of using the documents for a job application, his brother-in-law opened a bank account in his name without informed consent, then retained the passbook, chequebook and ATM card while linking his own mobile number to the account, giving him effective control over its operations. When the promised job never materialised, Bind returned to his village, unaware that a financial instrument bearing his name and identity was now active elsewhere.
The Notice That Kept Growing
Nearly three years later, Bind received a notice from the Income Tax Department referencing high-value transactions carried out in his name. He said the initial figure cited was ₹21 crore, but when he checked the records independently, the reported total had climbed to approximately ₹41 crore, alongside an alleged tax and GST liability of nearly ₹7 crore. Visiting the department’s office for clarification, he was reportedly told the matter was under judicial consideration and that the liability would still need to be resolved on his end, despite his insistence that he had never conducted business of any kind at that scale.
Bind, accompanied by his lawyer, has since submitted a written complaint to the Superintendent of Police in Mirzapur, seeking a high-level investigation into how the account was opened and who ultimately benefited from the transactions routed through it. He has asked authorities to examine bank KYC records, linked mobile numbers and the full financial transaction trail to identify those actually responsible.
Part of a Recurring Pattern Nationally
Bind’s case is far from an isolated one. Similar identity-theft schemes have surfaced repeatedly across India in recent months, including a Tamil Nadu farmer who received a ₹2.47 crore GST notice after his identity was allegedly used to register a fictitious business, and a separate case where a labourer’s ₹12 crore notice led investigators to uncover a ₹1,000 crore GST input tax credit scam spanning three states. In that case, officials found fraudsters had paid vulnerable individuals as little as ₹10,000 to hand over Aadhaar and PAN documents, later exploiting gaps in digital identity systems to link victims’ credentials to phone numbers the fraudsters controlled.
The broader mule-account ecosystem these cases feed into has grown substantially. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre had flagged more than 24.7 lakh Layer-1 mule accounts nationally as of early 2026, with authorities freezing over 13.3 lakh such accounts through 2025 alone, illustrating how identity documents obtained through deception or coercion are increasingly funnelled into laundering networks that operate at considerable scale before detection.
Why This Fraud Is Hard to Undo
Experts associated with the Future Crime Research Foundation said identity theft involving Aadhaar, PAN and banking credentials has become a significant financial crime risk, with fraudsters frequently misusing genuine documents to open accounts later used for money laundering or tax evasion. They advised citizens never to share original identity documents, banking credentials or one-time passwords, and to report any suspected misuse immediately to their bank, the Income Tax Department and local police.
Police in Mirzapur said they have received information about the case and will verify the facts after meeting the complainant, adding that appropriate legal action would follow if wrongdoing is established through further scrutiny of the account opening process and associated financial records.
