The Commissionerate Police on Thursday detected an illegal gold trade racket involving evasion of taxes in Malgodown area of Cuttack and imposed penalty of more than Rs 3 lakh on three traders with the assistance of GST officials.
“Acting on a tip-off regarding the illegal sale of god ornaments, a team of Malgodown police intercepted the jewellers at Cuttack railway station. About 2.29 kg mixed gold worth Rs 53 lakh and 27,800 pieces of gold plated ornaments transported from Amritsar in Punjab were recovered from the trio,” said Cuttack DCP Prateek Singh at a presser.
“We communicated the GST department and the officials verified and confirmed that the accused have evaded the taxes by selling gold without paying taxes. A total of Rs 3.23 lakh penalty have been collected from them. After verifying the bills of the gold ornaments, we will take further action,” Singh added.
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The DCP said the traders, during questioning, admitted that they had been regularly commuting to Cuttack to sell gold ornaments. They would travel in trains to prevent from being caught. Their main intension is to evade the GST, he said.
No arrest has been made in connection with the illegal gold trade.
“We are further inquiring whether the source from which the traders procures the gold is legal or not,” the DCP added.