A Central Bureau of Investigation case has now been registered in the alleged GST-municipal contracting nexus in Maharashtra’s Thane region, first reported by the Sunday Guardian in January, converting earlier vigilance findings into a formal criminal investigation with specific bribery charges.
On 4th January, The Sunday Guardian had reported (CBI Probe to GST Nexus in Maharashtra Municipality) that a vigilance examination had found a prima facie nexus between CGST officials, municipal bodies and contractors in the Thane region, and that the matter had been cleared for referral to the CBI.
The FIR, registered on 10 April by the agency’s anti-corruption branch in Mumbai, names Mohit Sharma, then Superintendent in the CGST Thane Rural Commissionerate, contractor Uday Shivraj Kalishetty of S K Enterprises, and private individual Kiran Vyas. The complaint was filed by Dr. Arvind Dubey, a resident of Kalyan.
Sharma is identified in the FIR as a Superintendent posted in the anti-evasion wing of the CGST Thane Rural Commissionerate, operating out of the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai at the time of the alleged events. The anti-evasion wing is responsible for detecting tax fraud, scrutinising input tax credit claims and initiating recovery proceedings, placing the officer in a position of direct control over enforcement actions against firms under investigation.
According to the FIR, the case originates from a complaint dated 29 December 2025 that the Directorate General of Vigilance, CBIC, forwarded after internal scrutiny. The complaint alleged a “deep-rooted network of tax corruption, cash-based settlements and black money generation” involving GST officials and contractors linked to municipal tenders in Badlapur, Ambernath, Kalyan and Ulhasnagar.
The CBI document states that the agency conducted a preliminary enquiry after obtaining approval under Section 17 A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, verified the allegations during this stage, and then registered a regular case.
The FIR narrows the broader allegations to a specific transaction. It alleges that in 2025, Sharma entered into a criminal conspiracy with the contractor and a middleman to obtain an undue advantage of Rs 15 lakh in exchange for diluting an investigation or avoiding penalty recovery against the contractor’s firm.
The agency records that the bribe was allegedly demanded and accepted on 2 August 2025 during an inspection at the principal place of business of the contractor’s firm, both directly and through the intermediary. It further states that audio and video recordings provided by the complainant support the allegation of acceptance of the amount.
Based on these findings, the CBI has invoked provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Prevention of Corruption Act, and assigned the case to an investigating officer for further probe. Further investigation is expected to determine whether the alleged transactions form part of the wider GST-municipal contracting nexus flagged in the January report.
Source from: https://sundayguardianlive.com/news/cbi-registers-fir-in-maharashtra-gst-bribery-scandal-185054/
