Indore: Asha Confectionary managing director Deepak Daryani, who had the privilege of hosting former chief minister Kamal Nath as a visitor to his industrial unit this February is now in troubled waters.
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has accused him of evading around Rs 3 crore customs duty while importing machinery from China, with whom India is at present involved in a bitter border dispute in Ladakh.
As per information, he had confessed evading Rs 50 lakh customs duty and paid the same but the DRI says that the evasion amounts to more than Rs 3 crore.
As per a press release issued by DRI, intelligence was collected regarding undervaluation of imported machines by Asha Confectionery.
“Intelligence was further developed which indicated that evasion of customs duty, by way of undervaluation of imported machines used to manufacture confectionery items was being organised by Asha Confectionery,” the release said.
“The majority of machines were imported from China during the last few years,” the release added.
Based on the said intelligence, teams from DRI Indore, Raipur and Bhopal conducted search operations at factory premises of Asha Confectionery in Sanver Industrial Area and residential premises of its director on June 30.
Asha Confectionery is manufacturing products like toffees, candies, lollypops, cakes and other confectionery items.
“In this case, tentative evasion of customs duty along with applicable interest will be more than Rs 3 crores. During investigation, Asha Confectionery admitted the customs duty evasion and voluntarily deposited Rs 50 lakh against the evaded customs duty liability. Further investigation is under process,” the press release stated.
Modware Company also found evading tax
Modware India, a company producing plastic products in the city, has also been found to be evading tax. More than Rs 1 crore tax evasion has been found by Central GST teams so far at the company. Around Rs 6 crore material has been seized, sources said. The GST teams raided 8 locations of the company and found heavy tax evasion. Sources said that the company also exports water bottles to different countries in Asia and beyond.