GST evasion case: CA’s bail plea rejected

Kanpur: Special chief judicial magistrate (Economic Offences), Kanpur Nagar, Kumud Lata Tripathi, on Wednesday dismissed the bail application of chartered accountant Lokesh Haseeja of Sonipat, Haryana, who had been arrested for tax evasion.The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) Kanpur regional unit arrested him along with an advocate recently. According to special prosecutor Ambrish Tandon, the DGGI team had arrested Tushar Raheja from Sonipat on September 13. According to the department officials, Raheja had evaded tax to the tune of Rs 5.90 crore on the basis of forged bills.During the investigation, two names also came to light in tax evasion but both had claimed Input Tax Credit in the name of eight bogus firms. The two persons were identified as Lokesh alias Lokesh Hasija, a chartered accountant of Sonipat, and Aman Jindal, an advocate of Sonipat. Both had evaded tax to the tune of Rs 79.18 crore.The accused pleaded that he was innocent and that the charges were fabricated, therefore, he should be granted bail. Countering this, special prosecutor Ambrish Tandon stated that Haseeja had admitted knowing Tushar Raheja and Aman Jindal, who were jointly engaged in the creation and operation of fake firms.He was involved in generating and managing invoices and GST returns for such firms against commission, distributed among himself (25%), Aman Jindal (50%), and Tushar Raheja (25%). As many as nine firms were created and managed for fake invoicing purposes. There was sufficient digital evidence against him; therefore, his bail application should be dismissed, argued the special prosecutor.The court, after reviewing the evidence on record, dismissed the bail application of Lokesh Hasija.