Bengaluru: The department of commercial tax on Thursday intercepted a Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus travelling from Bengaluru to Vijaywada and recovered four bags of silver items (Pooja Deepas) in violation of provisions under the Motor Vehicles Act.
In a surprise check, at about 10:30pm on Thursday, the bus was stopped at Hoskote. After checking that the tickets of the 45 passengers travelling on-board was in order, the team started inspecting the luggage compartment and found four bags without the KSRTC luggage tags.
The team then opened the bags and found 699 silver items weighing about 40.95 kg with an estimated value of Rs 15 lakh. The driver and conductor of the bus were asked to identify the owner, but failed to do so. They were immediately suspended from duty for being involved in the transit of unauthorized luggage. Surprisingly, no person came forward to claim ownership of the goods even three hours after it was detained.
Since the goods are taxable and valued around Rs 15 lakhs, transporting them without an E-way bill and tax invoice is an offense, and liable to tax and penalty as provided under 129 of the KGST/CGST Acts 2017. The commercial tax department has since taken custody of the items after physical verification of goods was done at the divisional controller KSRTC at KH Road.
Managing director of KSRTC Shivyogi Kalsad warned other drivers and conductors to not get themselves involved in such illegal activities. He added that if any crew member was found to be involved , stringent disciplinary action would be taken against them.
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