Five GST officials arrested in refund fraud cases

Hyderabad, May 4, 2024 

The Detective Department (DD) of the Hyderabad Central Crime Station (CCS) on Friday arrested five GST officials involved in seven group cases of GST refund fraud cases involving about ₹46 crore.

Peetala Swarna Kumar, Deputy Commissioner – GST Nalgonda Division, Kelam Venu Gopal, Assistant Commissioner (State Taxes) of Abids Circle, Podila Viswa Kiran, Assistant Commissioner (State Taxes) of Madhapur-1 Circle, Vemavarapu Venkata Ramana, Deputy State Tax Officer – GST of Madhapur-II Circle, and Marri Mahitha, senior assistant at Madhapur-III Circle - were arrested in the GST fraud case.

This follows the arrest and remand of a gang of four including Vemireddy Raja Ramesh Reddy, Mummagari Giridhar Reddy alias Giri and Kondragunta Vineel Chowdary along with Chiraag Sharma, the tax consultant who started bogus electric bike manufacturing units and claimed GST refunds on them.

According to the officials, the four started seven bogus electric bike manufacturing units - Vinardh Automobiles, Yoko Electric Bikes, Crox Electric Bikes., Growmore Electric Vehicles, Apex Electric Bikes, Supriya Electric Bikes and Magnum Electric Bikes by collecting electricity bills from owners of premises in Hyderabad and later registered the firms on GST portal by submitting fake and fabricated rental agreements.

“The members of the gang also filed and claimed GST refunds by offering bribes to the arrested officials based on fabricated invoices, e-way bills and inward supply bills generated by Chiraag Sharma, the tax consultant,” CCS DCP N Swetha explained.

The CCS DD booked as many as seven cases against the accused for criminal breach of trust and forgery under Sections 409, 420, 467, 468, 471 r/w 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

[The Hindu]