CBI Court in Visakhapatnam Convicts Excise Officer and Others in Massive Rs 32 Crore Fraud Case
In a major win for anti-corruption efforts, a CBI court in Visakhapatnam has convicted a former Central Excise and Customs inspector along with a local businessman and a private company in a shocking Rs 32.28 crore fraud case. The ruling came on Wednesday, dealing a strong blow to tax evasion scams in Andhra Pradesh.
Kalaka Ramdas, who was the Inspector of Central Excise and Customs in Srikakulam Range at the time, Polaki Janakiram from Vandragi village in Srikakulam district, and the firm M/s Sri Balaji General Trading Company all face five years in prison. The court didn’t stop there—it slapped hefty fines too: Rs 1.01 lakh on Ramdas, Rs 2.51 lakh on Janakiram, and Rs 2.01 lakh on the company, totaling Rs 5.53 lakh. Right after the verdict, Ramdas and Janakiram headed straight to Central Prison in Visakhapatnam.
The CBI kicked off this investigation back in August 2005, uncovering a clever conspiracy to dodge excise and customs duties. Janakiram allegedly posed as someone named Palla Kesava Rao, a fake identity, to set up the company. Using forged signatures and documents, he got approvals for a trading license, import-export code from the Visakhapatnam Special Economic Zone (VSEZ), and even turned a premises into a warehousing station under the Customs Act.
Things got even shadier when Janakiram, still pretending to be Kesava Rao, grabbed duty-free materials from firms in Maligaon and imported more. He then cleared them fraudulently as "deemed exports" to Mumbai-based companies using fake Advance Release Orders (AROs). This violated EXIM policy rules and involved Ramdas, who helped bend the system as the excise inspector. The scam cheated the government out of a whopping Rs 32.28 crore in duties.
CBI wrapped up its probe and filed a chargesheet in August 2008. After a detailed trial, the court found them guilty on all counts. This case highlights how public officials and private players can team up for big frauds, but justice finally caught up in Visakhapatnam. Stay tuned for more updates on CBI fraud cases and Andhra Pradesh corruption news.
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