pune the proprietor of a pimpribased firm transporting chasis to leading automotive companies was arrested by the central excise intelligence unit on wednesday evening for allegedly evading rs 439 crore service tax between 200910 and 201415 surendra gopaldas chhabra the owner of kaka motors a proprietary concern at ajmera housing complex in pimpri was produced in the court of chief judicial magistrate s r yadav on thursday by a team led by central excise superintendent s r baba the court ordered chhabras remand in magisterial custody till october 21 following a brief hearing process after the excise department had recommended 14day magisterial custody for the accused senior government counsel krishna d ratnaparkhi told toi chhabra later moved a bail application which is likely to be heard by the court on friday he said the services provided by chhabras firm are taxable in the category of business support services under the provisions of the finance act 1994 the firm had obtained service tax registration from service tax commissioner in pune and was bound to deposit the money collected towards service tax from its customers in the central exchequer acting on a specific information the intelligence unit of the central excise here had conducted searches at chhabras office at ajmera housing complex and yard office at saste jadhav estate dehualandi road in moshi on march 27 2015 documents recovered during the searches revealed that chhabra had not deposited the service tax collected from the customers between 200910 and 201415 the departments remand report stated failure to deposit the service tax beyond six months from the date of collection is punishable under the finance act 1994 it is a cognisable and nonbailable offence ratnaparkhi said the offence is punishable with imprisonment up to seven years