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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A special vigilance court in Thiruvananthapuram has sentenced three persons, including a former junior superintendent of the Commercial Taxes Department, to rigorous imprisonment in connection with a tax fraud amounting to 26.58 lakh rupees. The case involves fraudulent practices in the submission of advance tax by interstate traders during 2007-08. According to the prosecution, the accused forged tax challans to show payments exceeding the actual sums deposited in the state treasury. This manipulation allowed four business establishments to secure unjustified tax relief, causing a direct revenue loss of 26,58,595 rupees to the state exchequer.
Vigilance Court Hands Down Decisive Sentences
Delivering the judgment on Tuesday, Special Vigilance Judge and Enquiry Commissioner Manoj A. sentenced former junior superintendent L. Pushparani, aged 58, and middleman Sathish Kumar, aged 47, to 32 years of rigorous imprisonment each. The court also ordered both individuals to pay a fine of 11,36,193 rupees each. The third convict, 66-year-old trader K. Francis, received an eight-year rigorous imprisonment term along with a penalty of 6,11,560 rupees. The court reached the decision after reviewing financial transaction documents, disputed payment challans, and departmental verification records that confirmed systematic misappropriation of public revenue.
Falsified Challans Used to Defraud State Revenue
The case was investigated by the Special Investigation Unit-I of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB), Thiruvananthapuram. The inquiry established that during 2007-08, traders moving goods across state borders were required to pay advance tax under statutory provisions. The accused exploited this framework to orchestrate the revenue diversion. VACB findings revealed that the duplicate and triplicate copies of the challans were manipulated to reflect figures higher than the money actually deposited in the treasury. This paper adjustment allowed four business establishments to evade their tax liabilities while showing compliant records.
Departmental Verification Compromised by Official
The investigation established that L. Pushparani played a central role while posted as junior superintendent at the commercial taxes office in Neyyattinkara. Her official duties required her to inspect, verify, and confirm that the advance tax amounts recorded on the challans had been received by the treasury. The agency found that she abused her official authority by approving the fabricated figures during the verification process. Sathish Kumar acted as an intermediary coordinating between the traders and the official, while K. Francis operated as one of the beneficiary merchants. The conviction concludes legal proceedings in a nearly nineteen-year-old case where regulatory safeguards were deliberately compromised from within the department.
