Hyderabad: BJP MLA T. Raja Singh appealed to Union home minister Amit Shah to take over the investigation of `1,000 crore Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) scam from the Crime Investigation Department (CID) and hand it over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). In a letter written on Tuesday, the BJP MLA demanded that the Central agency take over the case as it has significant implications for the public interest and the integrity of the administrative system.
In his letter, Raja Singh pointed out that the Hyderabad police had registered a criminal case against the former chief secretary of Telangana Somesh Kumar for his alleged involvement in fraud related to the claim of input tax credits in the IGST transactions. It was alleged that the input tax credits were transferred to certain companies without them doing any actual transactions.
The scam, estimated to be worth `1,000 crore, reportedly occurred during Somesh Kumar’s tenure as the special chief secretary of revenue (commercial taxes), about four years ago when the BRS was in power and the fraudulent activities continued even after he was elevated to the position as Chief Secretary, during which he remained in charge of all revenue-earning departments.
Raja Singh also pointed out that a complaint filed by joint commissioner of commercial taxes K. Ravi Kumar implicated Somesh Kumar, three other individuals and a firm. The accused include additional commissioner of commercial taxes S.V. Kasi Visweshwara Rao, deputy commissioner of commercial taxes A. Siva Rama Prasad, assistant professor at IIT-Hyderbad Sobhan Babu and Pilanto Technologies, a technology partner of the commercial taxes department.
The gravity of the allegations, involving a substantial loss to the state exchequer and potential breaches of public trust, necessitates a thorough and impartial investigation. As high-ranking officials are involved, the efficacy of the CID probe is in question and hence it must be taken over by CBI, Raja Singh said in his letter.
