Hyderabad, Jan 7 (AHN) Telangana Congress leader M. Sunil Kumar has been arrested for GST fraud, said the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) on Wednesday.

Kumar, the Managing Director of Orange Passenger Transport Pvt Ltd, and the Trillion Lead factory Managing Director, Chethan N., were arrested by the DGGI for GST evasion and a fake ITC racket, respectively.

DGGI, Hyderabad zonal unit, said that Sunil Kumar was found to be collecting Rs 28.24 crore of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and not depositing that money to the government even after three months from the due date.

Similarly, Chethan, MD of Trillion Lead factory Pvt Ltd, was the mastermind of fake Input Tax Credit (ITC) amounting to Rs 22 crore. Both were arrested under the provisions of the CGST Act 2017, the DGGI, Hyderabad zonal unit said in a press release.

The DGGI officials produced both Sunil Kumar and Chethan before a magistrate at the Nampally Criminal Court complex.

The DGGI said that it has intensified enforcement actions against organised GST evasion cases. Based upon specific intelligence developed through data analytics and inter-agency collaborations, enforcement actions were initiated against masterminds of organised GST evasion rackets to dismantle large-scale, inter-state, organised fraud networks.

The agency said that the two persons were arrested in view of the gravity of the offences and to maintain sustained pressure on the organised tax fraud network.

Sunil Kumar is also the Congress party's in-charge for the Balkonda Assembly segment in Nizamabad district.

He had contested from Balkonda in the 2023 elections but was defeated by former minister and Bharat Rastra Samithi (BRS) leader Vemula Prashanth Reddy.

Sunil Kumar, known as a social activist and philanthropist, earlier wanted to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but an MP from the party reportedly opposed his induction.

In July 2023, he joined the Congress party in the presence of All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Karge and then Telangana Congress chief Revanth Reddy.