He ran a grocery store, but his bank account shows astonishing debit and credit, running into crores. K. Kashi Vishwanath (35) whose name the Lokayukta inquiry team stumbled upon through their investigation, said though Bhakta Markandeshwara Minerals (BMM) was registered in his name, he only job was to issue bills for 5 per cent of the ore value, out of which 4 per cent went towards value-added tax.
These proxy accounts witnessed huge credits and debits. A resident of Weavers’ Cooperative Colony in Hospet, Kashi Vishwanath knows nothing about his bank records. The bank accounts of BMM in Axis Bank, Hospet and Bellary, Lakshmi Vilas Bank and Pragathi Grameena Bank in Hospet have seen crores of rupees in deposits and withdrawals ranging from `43 crores, `33 crores and, in one transaction, `37 crores.
Kashi Vishwanath had applied for a taxpayer identification number (TIN) from the commercial taxes department in Karnataka and had given a bank account number (SB 13670) of Pragathi Grameena Bank in Hospet. However, this account was never used for VAT payments. “The commercial taxes department has totally failed to trace these accounts,” the report stated.
So what does Kashi Vishwanath have to say about his company? Interestingly, in his deposition before the inquiry team, he said he was employed with a hardware store in Hospet, before which he owned his own small grocery store. He was not sure if his firm was registered.
However, he says his cousin K. Govindaraj became a partner later on. Naturally, the commercial taxes department was not informed of this, nor was any other department concerned. He said he knew that the accounts were operational at three places, but had no idea when those accounts were opened.