Bengaluru: Bengaluru police on Wednesday announced the arrest of four central GST officers, who allegedly carried out a fake raid on a tech solutions company, "illegally confined" its four employees for two days and extorted Rs 1.5 crore from them.
The Central Crime Branch (CCB) identified the arrested officers as Abhishek, Superintendent of Central Tax, South Commissionerate; Manoj Saini and Nagesh Babu, Senior Intelligence Officers in the GST Intelligence Unit, and Sonali Sahay, Intelligence Officer, GST intelligence.
All the four officers belong to the Directorate General of GST Intelligence, Bengaluru Zonal Unit (Central GST).
Police sources said that the officers were arrested on Tuesday and a court had remanded them in police custody for 10 days.
Around 8.30 pm on August 30, three of these officers barged into a home in CV Raman Nagar. Two of them introduced themselves as GST officers, while the third posed as an ED officer.
The house was occupied by Keshav Tak, Mukesh Jain, Pawan Tak and Rakesh Manak, all employees of the Bengaluru-based Mexo Solutions Private Limited in JB Nagar.
Flashing a fake search warrant, the three GST officers snatched the victims' mobile phones and forced them into two cars. The four were then taken the Mexo Solutions office, where they were confined in separate rooms and assaulted, as per the FIR.
Over the next two days (August 31 and September 1), the GST officers allegedly assaulted the four.
Abhishek, who identified himself as a senior GST officer, reached the Mexo office later that night and took Keshav and others around Indiranagar. Keshav’s phone was put on airplane mode and connected to a mobile hotspot.
The GST officers then handed the phone back to Keshav, forcing him to call a friend and arrange for Rs 3 crore.
Keshav contacted a friend, Roshan Jain, via WhatsApp and requested the money. The GST officers brought the four back to the company's JB Nagar office and "detained" them for another day, according to the FIR.
Roshan called back on September 1 to say he could arrange only Rs 1.5 crore. The GST officers reportedly pocketed the money and released the four after some paperwork. However, they left behind a fake 'mahazar report' in a hurry, raising suspicion.
Keshav filed a complaint at the Baiyappaanahalli police station on September 9 after discovering that the raid was "staged". Police registered a case for wrongful restraint, voluntarily causing hurt, wrongful confinement, abduction, extortion and personation.
The case was subsequently transferred to the CCB.
Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda stated that the Directorate General of GST Intelligence did not authorise any raid on Mexo Solutions.
"When they authorise a raid, a specific number is generated and assigned. No such number was linked to the reported raid, confirming that it was unauthorised," Dayananda told DH.
He added that the officers might also face charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act if further investigation supports it.
A CCB source revealed that the accused officers "meticulously planned" the fake raid based on an anonymous tip. The CCB is now investigating the source of this tip.
The source added that no money has yet been recovered from the GST officers, and it remains unclear whether the victims were indeed extorted.