Piyush Jain Raid Case: How a salesman with a scooter became the biggest fraud in recent history
HIGHLIGHTS
300 crores seized in an IT Raid on perfume merchant Piyush Jain; ED to file money laundering case
Recovery of 23 kg of gold, huge unaccounted raw materials, and including over 600 kg of sandalwood oil, were also found
The process of counting cash was initiated with the help of officials of State Bank of India, Kanpur.
In what is described as the biggest ever seizure of cash by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) officials, Kanpur businessman Piyush Jain has now been sent into 14 days of judicial custody. He is arrested under section 132 of the CGST Act.
Cash worth nearly ₹ 300 crores (as per latest data and multiple news reports) was recovered along with gold, silver, and sandalwood from his residences and offices in a prolonged 6 day-raid held by the Income Tax department and DGGI officials.
According to the confirmed reports, the officials had to bring in some 20 cash-counting machines and an entire team of SBI officials to count the cash money recovered from the businessman. Sources say that Kanpur businessman Piyush Jain was leading a low-profile life and used to ride a scooter and had a hatchback car in the house to avoid sleuths.
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WHO IS PIYUSH JAIN?
A businessman and a resident of Anandpuri in Uttar Pradesh’ Kanpur, who belongs to Chhipatti in Kannauj is said to be the owner of factories, cold storage, and petrol pumps and among other establishments. Jain also has around 40 companies, which includes two in the West Asian Countries (Middle East) including a perfume company that manufactures Shikhar Pan Masala and other tobacco-based products. Here are all the highlights from the Piyush Jain raid case.
As per reports from NDTV, Jain learned the art of making perfumes from his father, who works as a chemist, and began his business in Kanpur.
He now works from Mumbai and Gujarat and owns a house, a head office, and a showroom that sells perfumes in the country and abroad.
As per the DGGI, “Piyush Jain has confessed that the cash recovered from his residential premises is related to the sale of goods without any payment of GST”.
THE 4 TRUCKS REVEALED ONE OF THE BIGGEST CASH SEIZURES IN RECENT HISTORY: DGGI
It all started when the DGGI took an action related to non-payment of GST of tobacco and pan masala loaded in four trucks belonged to Ganpati Road Carrier and through this, the officials of DGGI reached Shikhar Pan Masala factory following which they recovered more than 200 fake invoices in the name of Ganpati Road Carrier.
The makers of Shikhar Gutkha confessed during the action taken by DGGI that they owed tax and deposited Rs 3.09 crore and when the name of another partner of Shikhar Gutkha was revealed — Odocam Industries, helped the DGGI to expose Piyush Jain’s story.
The Officials soon raided the Odocam Industries Its registered address in Kanpur in which according to the DGGI’s press release, Rs 177.45 crore in cash was recovered.
The officials after this, raided the factory and residence of Piyush Jain in Kannauj and recovered Rs 17 crore in cash from the factory along with 23 kg of gold and 600 kg of sandalwood oil worth over Rs 5 crore. The officials were surprised when they discovered that all this was hidden in an underground tank.
The businessman was later arrested on the charges of tax evasion on December 26 (Sunday) night more than 40 hours after central agencies raided his premises
The search operations were first started by the Ahmedabad unit on December 22, after they received “specific intelligence inputs”, that indicated a “clandestine supply of goods by the manufacturer without payment of applicable tax, ” said Vikas Prasad, Additional Director, GST Intelligence unit.
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Those 200 + fake invoices seized from the offices and properties linked to Jain led to the recovery of over Rs 150 crore, Prasad added.
POLITICAL SLUGFEST & BLAME GAME
Following this raid, BJP spokesperson in Uttar Pradesh Rakesh Tripathi slammed the Opposition (Samajwadi Party) for helping corrupt people and goons.
“Now people related to (SP) Samajwadi Party are being raided for black money,” Tripathi said.
Shooting back at BJP, Several Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders denied all the links with Piyush Jain and said he is not from Samajwadi Party. Also, SP leaders said that the Kanpur businessman is part of the BJP and SP has nothing to do with him.
Not only this, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah too took digs at Akhilesh Yadav and the Samajwadi leaders.
To hit back at SP, several BJP leaders including national spokesperson Sambit Patra alleged that the Jain had launched the “Samajwadi Attar (perfume)” with the support of Akhilesh Yadav.
However, the man who launched the ‘Samajwadi Perfume’ is Pushpraj Jain who has been a Samajwadi Party MLC. He himself cleared all the rumours saying that “I had launched the SP perfume on my own and have nothing to do with Piyush Jain,”.
Last month on November 9, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had launched a “Samajwadi perfume” during a press conference in party headquarters in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, and said that the perfume “will carry the Samajwadi fragrance”.
THE NIGHT LYING ON JAIL FLOOR
During the court proceedings, the counsel for Piyush Jain objected strongly and said that Jain is suffering from multiple diseases like blood pressure, blood sugar, and his unlawful detention has impacted his health and increased the blood pressure and his life is critical without any proper medical facilities.
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The sources from the police station said that the accused Piyush Jain was kept in a Women Helpline room at the premises of Kakadeo police station where he remained awake for the whole night and in the morning, he had his breakfast.
According to the latest reports, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) will lodge a money laundering case against Piyush Jain.
Currently, several teams of financial intelligence are investigating the recovery of around cash worth nearly ₹ 300 crores (as per the latest data and multiple news reports) found during the raids held by the IT and DGGI officials and also discovered that the businessman has links across 50 countries.
