School bus tax rebate fraud: Nellore police book former minister Ponguru Narayana’s son-in-law Puneet Kothapa

Nellore: Police have booked Puneet Kothapa, son-in-law of Telugu Desam Party former minister Ponguru Narayana, for tax evasion and forgery.

Puneet is the president of Narayana Educational Society and the MD of NSPIRA Management Services Pvt Ltd.

Nellore SP Dr. K Tirumaleswara Reddy said following a complaint by the DTC Nellore, police registered a case of tax evasion and forgery under the MV Act. Police said the company had submitted forged documents under the MV Act.

On Monday, officials of the AP State Directorate for Revenue Intelligence (APSDRI) conducted searches at the offices and residences of his auditors and other members at Hyderabad and Nellore. The teams seized unaccounted cash of Rs 1.81 Crore, in connection with the crime of forgery and tax evasion.

Officials found that Narayana Educational Society has availed school and college bus tax rebates through manipulation and forgery.

Puneet Kothapatha joined Nspira Management Services Private Limited Company as Managing Director in 2017.

Nspira Management Services Private Limited Company Limited has been operating since 2015. It provides related services to schools and colleges. Run by Narayana Group, it mainly covers food and lodging, insurance, basic facilities, stipends, and housekeeping.

What are the irregularities?

APSDRI has conducted inspections in connection with the manipulation of school and college bus tax rebates. Nspira Management Services purchased 92 School buses and a few transport vehicles from Sri Dhanalakshmi Auto Agencies Pvt Ltd (64 vehicles), Patancheru, Sanga Reddy District, and Fortune Commercial Vehicles (28 vehicles), Secunderabad in July and August 2023 for Rs 20.68 crore

When the teams looked into the receipts of the purchase of vehicles, Nspira availed the Input Tax credit of Rs 4.48 crore and utilized it in their GST returns. Later, an agreement was signed by Nspira Management Services Pvt Ltd and Narayan Educational Society. Under the agreement, 92 vehicles were leased to Narayana.

Later it was found documents were manipulated by masking the GSTIN of Nspira Management Services Pvt Ltd in the tax invoices while submitting to Road Transport Authorities. The deal was projected to the Road Transport Authorities of Andhra Pradesh as if Narayana Educational Society owned the vehicles. Through this, the Narayana Group was getting the benefits of lower road tax slab rates under AP Motor Vehicles Taxation.

According to the AP Motor Vehicles Act, 1963, 92 vehicles also do not come under the 'Educational Institution' buses, and the 'Registrar of Societies' Narayana Educational Society is not a profit-oriented organization.

With the help of Nspira Management Services Pvt Ltd, Puneet fraudulently diverted the funds of Narayana Educational Society.

While the vehicles are owned by another private entity, they submitted forged documents to the Road Transport Authority that it owned the vehicles, to get the benefits of lower taxation slabs for which a society/ education institution is eligible. They tampered with the GSTIN details in the invoices.