The Commissionerate police on Thursday detected a gold trading racket at Malgodown in Cuttack. The traders who were evading paying GST were imposed a penalty of more than Rs 3 lakh.
“Acting on a tipoff regarding the illegal sale of gold ornaments, a team of the Malgodown police intercepted the jewellers at Cuttack Railway Station. About 2.29 kg of mixed gold worth Rs 53 lakh and 27,800 pieces of gold plated ornaments transported from Amritsar in Punjab were recovered from possession of three traders,” said city DCP Prateek Singh.“We informed GST officials, who verified and confirmed that accused have evaded the taxes by selling gold without paying taxes. A total of Rs 3.23 lakh penalty was collected from them,” Singh added. The DCP said traders, during questioning, admitted that they had been regularly coming to Cuttack to sell gold ornaments. They would travel in trains to evade paying GST, he said. However, no arrest was made in connection with illegal gold trade. “We are investigating whether source from which traders procured gold is legal or not,” the DCP added.
