3 GST inspectors, tax consultant held for ‘raid’ in south Mumbai

Photo used for representational purpose. Pic/iStock

Four people including three GST inspectors have been arrested for allegedly carrying out unauthorised raids in the office of a south Mumbai businessman and making away with Rs 11 lakh. A court on Friday remanded them in police custody for one day.

The four have been identified as Hitesh Vasaikar, 42, Macchindranath Kangane, 34, Prakash Shegar, 55, and Santosh Jagdale, 38, who is not from the Goods and Services Tax department.

The LT Marg police said that around 4.30 pm on September 14, four men entered the complainant's office at Kalbadevi. The intruders identified themselves as sales tax inspectors. The complainant is into property business and his two employees had collected rent for several properties and kept them in the office.

The accused asked the staff to show them the cash and all records. The employees had 30 lakh rupees rent and they produced all the documents related to the money. The police said the accused took away Rs 11 lakh pretending to collect the papers.

After learning about the ‘raid' in his office, the businessman approached the police.

Inspector Om Wangate of LT Marg, the investigating officer, checked with the GST office at Mazgaon if a raid had been ordered, but the officials said they were not aware of any such action. He then took the CCTV from the businessman's office to the GST office and got the accused identified.

"During the investigation, it became clear that three accused were associated with the GST department and one was a tax consultant. On Thursday, these accused were arrested from their homes and we recovered Rs 11 lakh from them," said Senior Inspector Deepak Nikam of LT Marg police station.

Nikam said they are checking if the accused have robbed others using a similar method. He said, "The accused were arrested on the basis of CCTV footage evidence collected from the spot. Initially, a case of cheating was registered but after verification and based on the statement of the complainant, the charge of extortion was added."

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