GST clerk in Nagpur sells case files as scrap; caught, suspended; inquiry underway

Times Of IndiaJuly 30, 2025

NAGPUR: An employee of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) department allegedly sold some department files to a raddiwala (waste paper dealer) when the papers were being transferred to the main office here. Quick reporting by some of the staff helped retrieve the files, and the employee has been suspended.A lower-level clerk, the suspended person is reported to have joined the department on compassionate basis. Sources who confirmed the development said he is addicted to liquor and often borrowed money from colleagues to drink. It is believed that he may have tried to sell the files to get money for drinking.Even as data is saved in the systems, the physical papers have to be preserved by the department. These typically relate to court cases. The papers are supposed to be kept safely for a period of 15 years

As per the procedure, the papers were being shifted to the CGST department's main office at Seminary Hills from the divisional office in the New Secretariat building. As the files were being loaded into a vehicle, the employee who was overseeing the work shifted some bundles into another vehicle. The files were taken away by the raddi-wallah.

Another employee who saw this quickly reported the incident.The department officials say that the files were retrieved and are back in the storeroom of the CGST office. The person has been suspended, and an inquiry is underway. Officials TOI talked to said these were not confidential documents, yet the records had to be maintained.The person had been recently transferred to Nagpur city division from Madhya Pradesh, said sources.