GST Officer Among 3 Arrested For Extortion From Shopkeeper In Gujarat

A superintendent with the Central Goods and Services Tax (GST) department and two others were arrested in Surat in Gujarat for allegedly extorting Rs 12 lakh from a shopkeeper, a police official said on Friday.

The CSGST superintendent, his driver and one more person were held on the complaint of Dhirendrasinh Rajpurohit at Varachha police station and have been charged with extortion and other offences, he said.

"On the evening of March 30, the three accused entered Rajpurohit's apparel shop in Old Bombay Market in Varachha area claiming they are from the GST department and that a warrant has been issued by the department against him for hiding income and GST evasion," he said.

"Without revealing their names or designations, the trio carrying files with the official emblem of the government told Purohit his shop's turnover was Rs 5 crore during the last two years and that he needed to pay Rs 80 lakh as GST," he added.

Threatening to seal his shop and send him to jail for 10 years, the accused sought Rs 45 lakh, and after Rajpurohit expressed his inability to give such a large amount the accused took Rs 7 lakh from his shop and Rs 5 lakh from his home, the official said.

On Rajpurohit's complaint, a case was registered and the three were arrested on Thursday on the basis of CCTV footage and other inputs, the police official said.

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