CHENNAI: A senior GST Intelligence officer is under probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly accepting a plot of land in exchange for suppressing the findings of large-scale tax evasion by a Tirunelveli-based educational consultancy.
The CBI’s Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB), Madurai, last week registered an FIR against S Kalayani Sundari Nagarajan, senior Intelligence officer with the Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGI), Madurai Regional Unit, and the directors of Fence Education Academy Private Limited, Tirunelveli, for alleged criminal conspiracy, bribery and GST evasion.
The other accused are Ariyamuthu Gunasekar, managing director, and directors Maran Rabindra Sailapathy and Ariyamuthu Veeramani. The company has also been named as an accused.
According to the FIR, the consultancy, which facilitates admissions for Indian medical aspirants to colleges in the Philippines, allegedly collected about Rs 8.40 lakh per student annually from around 1,000 students between 2017 and 2021. The firm was liable to pay 18% GST on these services but is accused of evading tax amounting to about Rs 7.5 crore.
The CBI stated that Nagarajan conducted a raid on the academy’s premises on March 22, 2021, during which the alleged evasion was detected. The officer is accused of abusing his official position by demanding an undue advantage to suppress the findings and reduce the tax liability to the tune of Rs 1.5 crore.
As part of the alleged quid pro quo, director Maran Rabindra Sailapathy is said to have executed a sale deed on November 7, 2022, transferring a 5.59-cent plot at VOC Nagar in Tirunelveli to Nagarajan. The property was registered at a guideline value of Rs 12 lakh, while the market value was estimated at about Rs 35 lakh.
The investigation also refers to complaints from medical students that the academy failed to remit tuition fees to Philippine universities despite collecting money from them. The directors allegedly operated multiple bank accounts, including in the names of relatives, to route the funds.
The CBI has invoked relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, as amended in 2018. Mandatory approvals and sanctions to proceed against the public servant have been obtained from the competent authorities. Investigation by CBI ACB Madurai is under way.
Nagarajan raided the academy’s premises on March 22, 2021, during which an alleged tax evasion was detected
The officer allegedly demanded an undue advantage to suppress the findings and reduce the tax liability
Director Maran Rabindra Sailapathy then executed a sale deed on November 7, 2022, transferring a 5.59-cent plot at VOC Nagar in Tirunelveli to Nagarajan. The property was registered at a guideline value of Rs 12 lakh, while the market value was estimated at about Rs 35 lakh