Hyderabad: On Wednesday, Leonia Resorts Chairman and Managing Director, GS Chakravarthi Raju was arrested for tax evasion. The resort had failed to pay the government tax dues worth Rs 13.8 crore worth of GST. The Directorate General of GST Intelligence arrested Raju after he allegedly did not cooperate with the investigation despite being served several notices.

Authorities also attached the details of five bank accounts of Leonia for tax evasion as evidence.

According to reports, Leonia Resorts have been collecting GST charges from customers but failed to forward them to the government from July 2017 when the GST came into effect. The tax collections were allegedly diverted for private use.

The reports also claimed that the Leonia management intentionally avoided paying the GST amount to the government despite several notices sent by the service tax department.

The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) authorities claimed that Raju admitted during the investigation that Leo Meridian Infrastructure Projects & Hotels Ltd, which owns Leonia Resorts, has not been paying GST amount after collecting them from customers.

According to the GST law, if any service provider collects the Goods and Service Tax from the customers and fails to remit the same to the government beyond a period of three months and if the amount involved is more than Rs 5 crore, it would be considered as a GST (non-bailable) offence. Any individual who commits such an offence would be imprisoned for a term of five years and a fine will be imposed.

In January 2018, Raju was arrested by the CBI in a Rs 54 crore bank fraud case for defaulting on loan payments.