Latest news with #Solapur-based
Hindustan Times
26-05-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Solapur-based lawyer arrested in ₹100 crore bogus GST invoice racket
The Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGI) on Thursday apprehended a Solapur-based lawyer, Sajid Ahmed Sheikh, for allegedly orchestrating a massive fake GST invoice racket worth over ₹100 crore. Investigations by the DGGI revealed that Sheikh had set up a complex network of 30 shell companies using counterfeit and fabricated documents. He allegedly used these fake entities to generate fake invoices for non-existent transactions to fraudulently avail of Input Tax Credit (ITC), a senior GST official confirmed. The accused was placed in judicial custody for 14 days and has been lodged in Kalamba Central Jail. Following intelligence inputs, DGGI officers conducted a raid at Sheikh's office in Solapur on May 22. They seized several electronic devices, including his computer and mobile phone. A forensic examination of these devices uncovered crucial evidence, prompting the agency to expand its investigation to 12 more suspected shell companies operating in the area. Authorities believe the scam may extend to multiple stakeholders, including traders, real estate developers, and jewellers, who could be complicit in the fraudulent ITC claims. The ongoing probe aims to unearth the full extent of this elaborate tax evasion racket.
Indian Express
22-05-2025
- Indian Express
How a bike with a distinct horn helped Vasai police crack gold heist case
It was a late-night heist that had the Vasai police flummoxed. In January this year, gold jewellery worth over Rs 70 lakh was stolen from a shop in the city. The accused? Two armed men who wore masks and helmets to commit the crime, leaving behind no clues. Or so they thought. It was late at night on January 10 when jeweller Ratanlal Singhvi, 68, decided to close his shop, Mayank Jewellers, in the Kaul Heritage city area. As Singhvi was pulling down the shutters of his shop, two motorbike-borne men armed with a pistol approached him and threatened him at gunpoint. When he resisted, he was assaulted. The robbers, who had covered their faces, stole gold jewellery worth over Rs 70 lakh and immediately fled the spot on their motorbike. After the robbery was reported, the Mira Bhayander-Vasai Virar police began their search for the accused. They scanned footage from nearly 600 CCTV cameras but found little to go on. The number plate of the motorbike was unclear, and the suspects' faces were hidden. The police believed that the robbers were hiding in Vasai as they were not seen in footage beyond the Chulna and Girij areas of the city. But with no concrete leads, the police feared the investigation had stalled – until an alert police official scouring through CCTV footage from that night noticed a motorbike with an unusual horn pattern. The clue proved to be the turning point in the case. Moments after the motorbike emitted the unique and distinct horn along with a headlight flash, a man emerged from a bungalow in the Girij Tokpada area and opened a gate for the vehicle to enter, the police noticed. The police began tracing the owner of the bungalow and found that it belonged to Royal alias Roy Sequeira, a 46-year-old Vasai resident with a long criminal record and over a dozen cases registered against him. The motorcycle used in the crime was found at his bungalow. The probe revealed that the suspects, who had stopped using their mobile phones after the robbery, had been communicating with Sequeira through coded messages. After the heist, the accused allegedly changed their clothes and headed to Vasai railway station, boarded a train, and fled. Nearly 20 days after the incident, officials from Manikpur police station in Vasai detained Sequeira, the alleged mastermind of the robbery, and Anuj Chougule, who they claimed was one of the two suspects on the bike. Later, the police caught Sourabh Tukaram Rakshe alias Pappu, the other accused in the case. Others arrested in the case include Lalsingh alias Sitaram Sarjerao More, who allegedly provided logistical support to the accused, and Amar Bharat Nimgire, a Solapur-based jeweller who allegedly bought the stolen gold. Part of the stolen molten gold, worth over Rs 20 lakh, was recovered. According to the police, a background check of the gang members revealed that some of them had criminal records and had been booked for some serious crimes in the past. The accused were booked under sections 309 (6) (robbery), 351 (2) (criminal intimidation), 317 (2) (stealing property), 61 (2) (criminal conspiracy) and 3 (5) (criminal act by several persons with common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita along with provisions of the Arms Act. As per a May 7 sessions court order, a provision of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) was also invoked against the accused.
Time of India
24-04-2025
- Time of India
Kolhapur Municipal Corporation blacklists contractor for delay in works
Kolhapur: The civic administration has blacklisted a Solapur-based contractor who failed to start a project involving the plantation of 5,000 trees on roadsides within the corporation limits. The contract also included the maintenance of the trees for 2 years. Contractor Akash Uttam Kanade was given the work order last Oct. However, despite three notices issued, he failed to start the work. When Kanade did not respond to any of the three notices issued to him, repeated attempts were made to contact him via various mediums, an official of the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) said. "A final notice was issued on April 15, which also went unanswered. Eventually, we confiscated the security deposit paid by the contractor, and blacklisted him. He will not be able to bid for any works floated by KMC in the future," said a senior civic official. The public works department of KMC had floated the work, totalling Rs 77.22 lakh, for planting trees along roads.
