LT Marg police have arrested four persons, including three GST inspectors, for illegally raiding the office of a South Mumbai businessman and taking Rs 11 lakh in cash.
The three inspectors have been identified as Hitesh Vasaikar, Machindranath Kangna and Prakash Shegar, while the fourth accused, Santosh Jagdale, is a tax consultant. Police said the incident took place at 4.45 pm on Tuesday, when the accused barged into the office of a certain Jotkumar Bhomchand Jain in Kalbadevi. According to the police, Jain is a landlord and rents out the property on the basis of turban.
Police said that when the accused reached Jain’s office, they showed their identity cards to the employees and confiscated their mobile phones. He instructed the employees to put all the cash on a table in the office, which totals to Rs 30 lakh. Police said the accused said that Jain’s office failed to pay the GST, so they confiscated Rs 11 lakh. A police officer said that the accused asked the employees to come to the GST office in Mazgaon and collect the money later.
After they left, Lalchand Vanigotha, an employee, called up Jain and informed him about the incident. Jain asked Vanigotha to verify whether the accused were genuine officers, so the latter went to the GST office, where he learned that no official raids were conducted at Jain’s office. After this Vanigotha went to LT Marg police station and lodged a case. With the help of CCTV footage, the criminals have been identified and arrested.
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