Manpasand Beverages hits 5% lower circuit as auditor Mehra Goel & Co quits

Shares of Manpasand Beverages were locked in 5 per cent lower circuit at Rs 38.85 apiece on Wednesday after the company’s auditor Mehra Goel & Co. resigned owing to the ongoing Goods and Services Tax (GST) scam investigations against the company.
 

In a letter addressed to the company, the auditors said they had “re-evaluated the firm and had considered recent developments, including actions and investigations initiated by the GST authorities”. 
 

Without clarifying any further, Mehra Goel & Co. said it was tendering its resignation owing to their “inability to continue” as the statutory auditors. READ HERE
 

The fruit juice maker is embroiled in a tax evasion case worth Rs 40 crore, involving a turnover of Rs 300 crore.
 

As per a CGST Commissionerate statement, the listed beverages company had been running fake units for availing input tax credit (ITC) fraudulently.
 

In May this year, searches and seizure proceedings were carried out at various premises of the company. The Commissioner of Central GST and Customs then conducted inquiry at GST Bhavan office of Vadodara.
 

Following this, the firm’s Managing Director Abhishek Singh, his brother Harshvardhan Singh and the Chief Financial Officer Paresh Thakkar were arrested. 
 

Post the search by the Commissioner of Central GST and Customs, many directors of the company also tendered their resignation, including independent directors Chirag Doshi, Bharat Vyas and Milind Babar, along with director Dhruv Agrawal. 

At 10:10 am, the trading in the scrip was halted while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was trading 38 points, or 0.10 per cent, higher. 
 

Since the scam surfaced, the stock has tanked 63 per cent against a nearly 2 per cent fall in the Sensex.