The 55-year-old Kishore Wadhwani was apprehended by the regional unit of the Directorate of GST Intelligence from a Mumbai hotel on Tuesday.

A businessman in Indore, who traded different brands of tobacco, paan masala and other raw materials has been held for alleged GST tax evasion of Rs 233 crore. The 55-year-old Kishore Wadhwani was apprehended by the regional unit of the Directorate of GST Intelligence from a Mumbai hotel on Tuesday. This followed after many searches in Indore and Ujjain over the last few days, The Indian Express reported. Four other owners of the manufacturing units were also arrested. However, Kishore Wadhwani has been identified as the ultimate financial beneficiary after the owners in their statements recorded under Section 70 of the CGST Act said so.

Earlier, a case of kachori seller in Aligarh had also made headlines after the agencies revealed that the person was found guilty of tax evasion on an annual turnover of Rs 70 lakh. The owner Mukesh was found out to be a ‘crorepati’ who didn’t have Goods and Services Tax registration.

The agency has also seized mobile phones, computers and laptops from key persons and locations during investigation. The agency has also taken various pictures of slips/kacchi parchi and chat histories of various individuals as prima facie evidence against the tax evasion of more than Rs 233 crore. This has also been corroborated by key persons, the agency said. Meanwhile, the Mumbai court has granted transit remand till 18 June 2020 as Kishore Wadhwani has gone underground and was hiding in the maximum city. The officials of the agency and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence reached Indore late Wednesday. The agency has arrested Sanjay Mata, Vijay Nair, Ashok Daga, and Amit Bothra as they were supplying, dealing and selling huge quantities of different brands of paan masala, tobacco and raw material without issuing GST invoices under CGST Act, 2017. It is said that they have also committed offences under various other sections of the IPC.