CHENNAI: A special CBI court here on Friday sentenced seven individuals, including a Chennai police inspector and former Senior Tax Assistant with the Income Tax Department, to four years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a total fine of Rs 2.4 lakh in connection with a major income tax refund fraud case.

The convicted individuals were identified as Babu Prasath Kumar, the then Senior Tax Assistant in the Department of Income Tax, Chennai, B Praveen Kumar, inspector of police, Chennai, Trewellyn Marion Corneille, P Stephen, A Gopikrishna, Venkatesh, and C Gunaseelan.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered the case on December 31, 2019, following a complaint from the Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax, Chennai. The complaint alleged that fraudulent income tax refunds were generated and issued through systematic manipulation of the system using forged documents and fictitious identities between June 4, 2015, and August 31, 2019. The fraud caused a wrongful loss of approximately Rs 2.38 crore to the Income Tax department.

Following the completion of the investigation, the CBI filed seven charge sheets on March 1, 2021.

The Court, after the conclusion of the trial, found all seven accused guilty and sentenced them accordingly.