Hyderabad CCS files FIR against former chief secretary for alleged Rs 1,400 crore GST fraud

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], July 29 (ANI): The Central Crime Station (CCS) of the Hyderabad police has filed an FIR against former Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar and four others, including two senior officials of the Commercial Taxes Department, for alleged violations of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act.

The two senior officials of the Commercial Taxes Department are identified as Deputy Commissioner A. Siva Rama Prasad and Additional Commissioner (State Taxes) S.V. Kasi Visweswara Rao.

The complaint regarding the alleged GST fraud was filed on July 26 by K. Ravi Kanuri, Joint Commissioner (CT) of the Central Computer Wing, Nampally, Hyderabad.

A forensic report indicated the unauthorised transfer of proprietary data from the Commercial Taxes Department to a third party.

According to the police, an evasion of over Rs 400 crore was identified through the preliminary verification of 11 cases, which were masked by IIT-Hyderabad.

One such case mentioned in the FIR involved Telangana State Beverages Corporation Limited. Furthermore, evasion of over Rs 1,000 crore was uncovered through fraudulent cases detected in the state, the police said.

The allegations include masking taxpayer data, issuing instructions not to cancel fraudulent cases, estimating IGST loss without incorporating the IGST head in issued notices, making proprietary data available to a third party, and changing the jurisdiction of taxpayers to individuals in his coterie without authority, thereby favouring taxpayers against whom favourable advance rulings were issued.