CID to probe role of KCR, KTR in GST scam

Hyderabad: The State Government decided to hand over the GST input tax scam to the CID which will now probe to ascertain the role of former Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and former IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao in the GST scam in the Commercial Taxes department.

It may be mentioned here that cases against former Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar and other officials of state Commercial Tax wing are under probe following allegations that several companies from AP, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka evaded the payment of input tax under the GST Act. As a result, the state government incurred revenue loss of around Rs 1,400 crore.

Officials said that the Central Crime Station (CCS) launched an investigation into the GST scam based on the complaint lodged by the state Commercial taxes wing. The department also started analysing the documents which are crucial to establish the case. KCR was holding the portfolio of Commercial Taxes at that time. Hence the minutes of the meeting had become crucial.

The government feels that KCR was fully aware of the GST scam as every decision taken by Somesh Kumar had his consent. The Commercial Taxes department said that they would be submitting all the records to the government for further probe.

The scam came to light after the Commercial Tax department noticed a fraud of Rs 25.51 crore GST by the Big Leap Technologies and Solutions Private Limited. Nearly 75 taxpayers, including major companies like the Telangana State Beverages Corporation Limited, were allegedly involved in this massive scam. “The role of big leaders is not ruled out since the focus of the government was to mop up more revenue,” sources said.

The operations of the Commercial Taxes wing were handled by Plianto Technologies Private Limited. The probe agencies are now trying to find out the roots of the IT companies and the role of the IT department which was under KTR’s control.

“Without the influence of the bigwigs in the IT wing, the company would not have got such a big task of managing all the work of the Commercial Tax department’s IT affairs. The Commercial Taxes wing and CCS will jointly finalise a report on the role of KCR and KTR in the GST scam soon,” a top official said.