LUCKNOW: A total of Rs 177.45 crore cash was recovered and seized from the premises of Kanpur's Perfume and Pan Masala manufacturer Piyush Jain, following raids conducted by the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) officials of the Ahmedabad unit of the agency for almost 48 hours.
As per the highly placed sources, the counting of cash recovered after the joint raids continued till past Friday midnight. Later the team of officials took Piyush Jain along for further interrogation over the alleged unaccounted wealth recovered from his premises in Kanpur and Kannuaj. Jain owns the firm named Trimurti Fragrance Pvt Ltd, Kanpur, and is also the manufacturers of Shikhar brand Pan Masala and Tobacco Products.
However, the sources of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBITC), the apex body of investigation agency Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), which initiated the raids, called it the biggest cash seizure in history. Sources claimed the DGGI is evaluating the alleged tax evasion by the party who is under investigation.
The official sources claimed that the cash recovered and seized from the search under the provisions of section 67 of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act was deposited in the State Bank of India.
"Most of the currency is of Rs 500 denomination. Some are of Rs 2000 denomination," the top government source said.
Claiming that the pan masala company had committed huge tax evasion and the wealth recovered during the raids as part of sales proceeds and it was kept hidden at the residence of the trader.
Currently, assorted tobacco items, pan masala are among the products that attract the highest GST rate of 28 percent and also compensation cess. The sources claimed that the DGGI team is evaluating the magnitude of tax evasion by matching the sale of the pan masala.
An amount of Rs 3.09 crores has been recovered so far towards tax due with Trimurti Fragrance.
In fact, the whole search operation was conducted by the Ahmedabad unit of DGGI with the support of local officers.
"No other agencies are involved in the operation as reported by in some media reports," said sources.
Sources said that some more firms including transporter M/s Ganpati Road Carriers were also under the scanner of the raid agencies. The premises of the transporter was also raided and the agencies found over 200 fake invoices, used in the past for transportation of goods without payment of GST.
The transporter had also admitted that goods were being transported without e-way bills under the cover of fake invoices. He also admitted that the sale proceeds were being collected in cash, to be handed over to the manufacturer, the sources said.
Not only an amount of Rs 1.01 crores in cash was seized from the possession of the
transporter but four trucks were also seized outside the factory premises.