DGGI Officers Assaulted, Kidnapped By Iron Scrap Company Owner

Officers of the Hyderabad zonal unit of the DGGI (Directorate General of GST Intelligence), as part of an investigation against firms involved in issuing fake invoices, visited on June 30 the premises of M/s Grade One Iron Scrap (GSTIN: 36CVAPS4001G1ZW) located at Saroor Nagar in Hyderabad to search its premises. However, the premises were locked and it was learnt that the keys were available with Feroze Syed, the proprietor, who was at Guntur at the time of the visit by the officers.

Accordingly, the premises was sealed in the presence of independent witnesses, and a panchanama dated June 30 was drawn to that effect.

Later, on July 5, V D Ananda Kumar, SIO of the Hyderabad zonal unit of the DGGI, and Manish Sharma, IO, once again visited the same premises to conduct the search by opening the seal in the presence of the proprietor and independent witnesses.

When the officers were about to initiate the search proceedings, Feroze Syed along with his associates threatened the officers, assaulted them and snatched their identity cards, kidnapped them in his vehicle, and threatened to kill them.

The offenders also demanded a ransom of Rs 5 lakh from the officers.

Meanwhile, upon receiving the information through a driver, senior officers of the DGGI approached police officers of the Saroornagar Police Station for immediate assistance and rescue. The police intercepted the vehicle in which the officers were being kidnapped and rescued the officers. They also arrested Feroze Syed and his three associates (one associate is still absconding), and retrieved the IDs of the officers and the search authorization from the alleged offenders.

The officers have been sent for a medical examination.