IAS Officer Kanishka Heads Massive GST Fraud Crackdown in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu

A young IAS officer from Jamshedpur has made his hometown proud by leading one of the biggest GST fraud crackdowns. Kanishka, a 2021-batch IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre, is currently serving as Additional Commissioner of Enforcement (South Zone) in the Karnataka Commercial Taxes Department.

Kanishka is the son of former Tata Steel executive Prabhat Sharma. He studied at Loyola School in Jamshedpur and had earlier worked as Assistant Commissioner and Sub-Divisional Magistrate in Karwar, where he focused on making the revenue services more accessible to the public, improving the land record system, and strengthening grievance redressal.

The department, under Kanisha’s leadership, busted a huge GST scam across Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. During the investigation, the officials found business transactions worth Rs 1,464 Crore. Using fake invoices, the fraudsters illegally claimed and passed on Input Tax Credit (ITC) of around Rs 355 crore, without any actual supply of goods.

The raids were carried out in Bengaluru, Chennai, Vellore and Pernampattu. The investigation showed that the fraudsters used fake documents to get multiple GST registrations. Through this, fake companies were created, and registrations were intentionally cancelled to avoid being investigated or caught by the tax authority. During the investigation, the officials seized mobile phones, SIM cards, pen drives, bank records and rubber stamps of several fake firms.

As per the official statement, the fraud was found using highly advanced GST data analysis tools. The department’s own Non-Genuine Taxpayers system, along with IP Address tracking, helped the officials to detect the unusual invoicing pattern and circular flow of ITC.

The officials arrested the four key accused with the coordination of the Tamil Nadu Commercial Taxes Department. These accused were sent to judicial custody by the Special Court for Economic Offences in Bengaluru.

Kanishk was honoured with the Best Revenue Officer of the Year 2024 award presented by the Karnataka Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda at a ceremony held in Bengaluru. His performance has been praised widely in Karnataka’s government circles as well as in Jamshedpur.