Contractor of Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation arrested for GST evasion

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CGST Navi Mumbai Commissionerate of Mumbai Zone has arrested a businessman for evading GST of Rs 9 crore, said a press release.

The businessman, who owns Pratibha CSL Sudhir Construction Joint Venture, had taken a contract from the Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation in 2016 for construction of Metro Train Depot at Nagpur and had collected GST. They had not paid GST of Rs 8.05 crore to the GST authorities, which was collected three years ago in 2018.

Additionally, the taxpayer had also availed ineligible Input Tax Credit (ITC) of Rs 95 lakh. GST collected by a taxpayer has to be deposited with the exchequer within three months of the collection, otherwise, it is an offence under section 132 of the CGST Act., he was arrested on 27.01.2022 under section 69 of the CGST Act and was produced before the Judicial Magistrate, Vashi on 28.01.2022.

The Hon'ble court has sent the accused for 14- day judicial custody. Apart from payment of tax, interest and penalty, this offence attracts a prison term of up to five years. This case is a part of the Anti-Evasion drive launched by CGST, Mumbai Zone against the fraudsters and tax evaders who create unhealthy competition for compliant taxpayers and defraud the Government exchequer. As a part of this drive, Navi Mumbai Commissionerate has detected tax evasion of Rs 415 Crore, recovered Rs 18.63 crore and arrested 10 persons so far. The CGST Department is using data analysis tools to identify tax evaders.

By using data analysis and network analysis, the officers of CGST Mumbai zone have booked more than 625 tax evasion cases, detected tax evasion of Rs. 5500 Crore, recovered Rs. 630 Crore and arrested 47 persons, in the last five months. A meeting was also held between senior officials of CGST Mumbai zone and Maharashtra State GST Authorities wherein both sides agreed to initiate a coordinated anti-tax evasion action plan against the tax evaders.

A road map was also laid for the identification of fraudsters and to bring them to book. Both authorities also decided to intensify their anti-tax evasion efforts in the coming days.

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