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ShareMumbai: If the economic offences wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police is to be believed, businessmen Krishnakumar Gupta, 52, and Dashrath More, 44, committed an offence under the Maharashtra Value Added Tax (MVAT) Act, 2002, and duped the exchequer of Rs28.72 crore. The duo is seeking bail from the Bombay high court.
The prosecution has alleged that the two businessmen, directors of KKG Traders Private Limited and 26 other companies, prepared false bills and tax invoices in the names of various beneficiaries. The beneficiaries paid the sale amounts to the accused by cheque along with 4% VAT.
The business partners later returned the monies to the beneficiaries by cash but did not seek a set-off on the VAT from the state sales tax department. In this manner, they are alleged to have pocketed as much as Rs28.72 crore between April 2005 and March 2008.
The accused are, however, seeking bail on the grounds that since they have been booked under a special enactment, they should not have been booked for cheating and forgery under the Indian Penal Code.
After they were denied anticipatory bail by the court, they surrendered to the sales tax unit of the EOW on September 4.
In their application, both Gupta and More said that by invoking sections of the IPC, the prosecution had "short-circuited" the provisions of the MVAT Act.
They said that they were ready to pay the dues to the sales tax department, but they need not be kept behind bars by booking them under the IPC. They said they had already paid Rs15.94 lakh as VAT to the state treasury.
The court has sought a reply from the prosecution. The case will be heard on November 23.
