In a major incident of tax evasion, the GST intelligence officials unearthed tax evasion worth over Rs 500 crore by various pan masala and cigarette manufacturers in Indore in the last month. In more than 50 search operations carried out to counter illicit sale of pan masala, tobacco, and cigarettes, the GST officials have till now detected GST evasion of about Rs 512 crore, done in the last one year, PTI reported citing an official statement. The government has also sealed six immovable properties and 14 bank accounts while five people have been arrested, under the operation Kark launched by the officials of Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGI).
The statement said that the sleuths part of the searches acted as corona warriors by conducting the operation in parts of Indore affected by the deadly coronavirus pandemic. Recently, the GST intelligence officials had detected tax evasion of Rs 105 crore by a cigarette manufacturing firm in Indore. They further said that additional evidence suggested the GST evasion for the period April 2019 to May 2020 by the firm is Rs 270 crore, which may further rise.
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In the searches made by the GST officials, it was found out that the unit had declared invoices of providing filters to three dummy firms, whereas, the filters had been supplied to only one firm. One of the proprietors of the dummy firm was also found to be an employee of a media organisation run by the accused running the illegal units.
In multiple cases, it was revealed that apart from manufacturing illegal products, they also operated during the strict nationwide lockdown. The firms made a backdoor entry and exit for building inventory and supply manufactured products. Meanwhile, despite the strict GST compliance rules and regulations, and relief measures provided by the government, cases related to tax evasion have been regularly spotted in the country.