The Bengaluru police announced on Friday the arrest of two additional suspects linked to a fake raid conducted by GST officers on a tech solutions company, where four employees were allegedly detained illegally for two days.
The Central Crime Branch (CCB) apprehended Prakash Jain and Mukesh Jain from Shanthinagar on September 18 and 20, respectively. They are accused of facilitating the collection of Rs1.5 crore from the complainant’s associates through Hawala transactions. The CCB also seized 306 grams of gold from a jewelry shop in Sunkadakatte owned by one of the suspects. Both individuals hail from Rajasthan.
Earlier, on September 10, the CCB arrested four GST officers—Abhishek (Superintendent of Central Tax, South Commissionerate), Manoj Saini, Nagesh Babu (Senior Intelligence Officers), and Sonali Sahay (Intelligence Officer)—for conducting a bogus raid on Mexo Solutions Private Limited, located in JB Nagar.
On the evening of August 30, three GST officers forcibly entered a residence in CV Raman Nagar, where they introduced themselves as GST officials, while one pretended to be from the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The occupants, including Keshav Tak, were allegedly confined and assaulted over two days. They were released only after Tak arranged the payment of Rs1.5 crore through Hawala to the officers’ associates.
According to CCB sources, Prakash and Mukesh acted as informants for the GST officers. They were acquainted with the officers and exploited their connections to target Tak, aware of his company’s substantial financial position.
The CCB has recovered Rs69 lakh from the GST officers and the gold from the Jain brothers. They have also contacted the Income Tax Department to investigate the Hawala transactions related to this case.