In a crackdown by the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGCI), Hyderabad, Sunil Kumar, the owner and managing director of Orange Tours and Travels, was arrested on charges of collecting GST amounting to Rs 28.24 crore from passengers but failing to deposit it with the government within the stipulated time. A Congress office-bearer, Sunil Kumar, had contested the 2023 Assembly elections from the Balkonda constituency on a party ticket, but lost.
According to DGCI, the travel company had collected GST charges from passengers through ticket sales for the bus service. However, it failed to remit the collected amount to the government within the stipulated three-month period, thereby violating the provisions of the Central GST Act. Today, Sunil Kumar was taken into custody following investigations by the agency. He was produced in court in Nampally today following his arrest.
Sunil Kumar was also the Congress in-charge of the Balkonda constituency. Before contesting the Assembly elections on a Congress ticket, Sunil Kumar had also contested the 2018 elections on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket. He had been unsuccessful in 2018 as well. According to his LinkedIn profile, Sunil Reddy Muthyala is the managing director of Orange Group of concerns, including Thirumala Cabs, Orange Tours and Travels, and Orange Cargo Carriers. While Thirumala Cabs was the parent company, Orange Tours and Travels began running bus services between Bengaluru and Hyderabad in 2011.
In a separate case, the managing director of Trillion Lead Factory, N Chethan, was also arrested in a case of fake input tax credit fraud amounting to Rs 22 crore. The Hyderabad unit of the DGCI has begun a major crackdown against cases of GST evasion across the state, and the two were arrested as a part of the intelligence gathering, inter-agency collaboration, and investigations.