IIPM director Arindam Chaudhuri arrested for Rs 23 crore tax evasion; sent to 14-day judicial custody

Arindam Chaudhuri, director of the Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM), was arrested by the CGST South Delhi Commissionerate on August 21 over tax irregularities.

He was apprehended for wrongfully claiming Central Value Added Tax (CENVAT) of service tax credit (in the pre-GST regime) amounting to around Rs 23 crore.  

Chaudhuri is facing charges under Section 89 of the Finance Act. Chaudhuri's colleague, Gurudas Malik Thakur, another director of IIPM, has also been apprehended under the same offence and sent to 14 days judicial custody by a Delhi court. Meanwhile, an investigation is underway and may cover other properties held by Chaudhuri and his company in India and abroad.

Chaudhuri made a credit entry of CENVAT of around Rs 23 crore following a cash shortage to pay the service tax. He showed the amount (of Rs 23 crore) in next year's balance sheets but never paid it.

The once high-flying management guru's books like, "Don't count your chickens till they are hatched" were a big hit amongst students.  

This is not the first time Chaudhuri has been caught on the wrong side of the law; his famed institute, IIPM, had been in the news earlier as well for similar cases of financial bungling.  

Chaudhuri was apprehended on March 14 (2020) for allegedly submitting a forged medical certificate after police asked him to join the probe with respect to a 2016 case. He was subsequently released on bail.  

Delhi Police had in 2015 registered an FIR against IIPM following the complaint of UGC that the institute was 'misleading, cheating, and fooling' students as it was not recognised by any regulatory body.