Surat GST official, two others held for extorting Rs 12 L from textile trader 

According to police, the trio went to a textile shop in Varachhaa run by Dhirendrasingh Rajpurohit on March 30 and threatened him that they have a warrant against him for tax evasion.

The trio took away mobile phone of the textile trader and also removed the CCTV cameras fixed inside the shop.

The accused also checked sales and purchase records of textile fabrics and found the annual turnover of the firm was of Rs 5 crore.

Police said that the GST Superintendent and the two others told Dhirendrasingh Rajpurohit that he has to pay 12 per cent tax on the total sales, which is around Rs 80 lakh.  They also threatened to seal the shop, if he did not pay the tax amount.

The owner bargained with officials to get the matter settled. The three accused agreed on Rs 45 lakh as a settlement amount. The traders then paid them Rs 12 lakh and told them that he will pay the remaining amount soon.

Following this, Rajpurohit intimated his Chartered Accountant. The CA crossed verified with the GST office and found that no such team has raided Rajpurohit firm.
Rajpurohit lodged a complaint of cheating against three persons with Varachha police station on Thursday.

Based on the complaint, Varachha police arrested the three persons and booked them under IPC sections 389 (putting person in fear of accusation of offence, in order to commit extortion) 384 (punishment for extortion), 447 (Punishment for criminal trespass), 170 (personating a public servant.), 114 (abettor present when offence is committed).

Assistant Commissioner of police R R Ahir said, ”We have  arrested three persons We will question them him and find out more details.”