Central excise sleuths crack fraud, collected Rs 2 crore

ROURKELA (ODISHA): Conducting a major raid in Odisha, central excise sleuths today claimed to have cracked a fraud allegedly by a private company at Jharsuguda and collected Rs 2 crore from it to avoid arrest.

The raid was done by the intelligence unit of Director General of Central Excise ( DGCE) here following information that the company had evaded central excise tax to the tune of Rs 15 crore by forging documents, excise officials said.

The company producing sponge iron, billets and steel items had forged the documents relating to its production, purchase, dispatch, sales and amount received after sale.

Deputy Director of DGCE Satish Kumar said the raid was conducted after intelligence input they got about the fraudulent activity of the company.

"The amount is about Rs 15 crore, one of the biggest in the history of Odisha and in iron and steel industry," Kumar said adding the company immediately deposited Rs two crore through e-payment to avoid arrest and promised to pay the rest amount after calculation of exact tax liability.

The raiding party got proofs of the fraudulent activities from computer and SMSes, he said adding they were also cheating the state government by not showing the exact production.