6 traders held for detaining taxmen

HYDERABAD: Police on Saturday arrested six grain merchants for allegedly detaining and assaulting commercial tax officials at a store in Malakpet on Friday.
According to Chadarghat sub-inspector of police, Mohd Riyazuddin, the commercial tax officials lodged a complaint against six grain merchants—Shanti Lal Jain Kothari, Susheel Kumar Jain Kothari, proprietors of Vijayalaxmi Trading Co., Dinesh Kumar Gupta of Dinesh Trading Co., Ghanshyam Das Joshi of Ajay Trading Co., Yogesh Agarwal of Sagar and Co and Radhe Shyam Joshi of Sri Vishnu Traders—for assaulting them when they were performing their duties.
On Friday, a team of commercial tax officials, headed by assistant commissioner Phaninder Reddy, conducted a surprise check and audit on M/s Vijayalaxmi Trading Co. situated at Rice Mill Road, Malakpet.
During the audit, the officials found discrepancies in the register and the stock available at their shop. The officials asked proprietor Shanti Lal Jain Kothari to produce records for the excess stock, but he failed to do so and called other grain merchants of Malakpet and other areas. The merchants detained the officials at Vijayalaxmi Traders and threatened them not to visit their shops in future.
On receipt of information, police reached the spot and rescued the officials, said the SI. Police registered a case and investigated the issue.