Hyderabad: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has listed former chief secretary Somesh Kumar as one of the accused under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in connection with the GST evasion of over Rs 1,000 crore in the Telangana state commercial tax department (CTD). ED officials have written to the CTD central computer wing seeking details of an internal report prepared by its officials on the GST evasion. The ED has registered a case based on the FIR registered by the Hyderabad central crime station (CCS) on the issue, which was subsequently transferred to the Crime Investigation Department (CID) who took up a probe. The ED is investigating the money-laundering aspect of the GST evasion.In the letter, the ED officials said that the Hyderabad CCS has registered cases against Somesh Kumar and others for alleged GST violations. It is further revealed that masking of several cases was noticed through service providers and GST evasion of more than Rs 1,000 crore was unearthed through fraudulent cases detected in the state. ED officials sought attested copies of all communications and reports cited in the references along with details, including copies of forensic audit reports conducted by the state audit department and CDAC. The agency officials wanted details of the agreement entered between the CTD and IIT-Hyderabad, details of all detected cases wherein masking was done at IIT-Hyderabad and any other information related to the case.After obtaining all relevant details pertaining to the GST evasion, ED officials will initiate a probe after serving notices to the accused and suspects, Somesh Kumar.
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