GST fraud: 3 behind 100 fake firms held

Noida, May 19, 2024

Three men were arrested on Saturday in connection with a Rs 15,000-crore GST fraud that came to the light in June last year. So far, 44 arrests have been made in the case.

On June 1, 2023, police announced that they had apprehended a gang believed to be involved in the multi-crore GST fraud. The gang registered a number of companies under stolen or fake identities. These companies were then used to create e-way bills and claim input tax credit (ITC) from the govt.

DCP (crime) Shakti Avasthy said the suspects, Shubham Jindal (30) and Tarunn Jindal (32), are residents of Delhi, and Kaushik Jain (35) is a resident of Jaipur.

“The three were arrested by the Sector 20 police from their residences. Their names were revealed during the investigation, and they have been on the run ever since. In Jan, the commissionerate announced a bounty of Rs 25,000 on their arrests, the DCP said.

“All of them were involved in creating fake companies and have created at least 100 of them in the last two years. Subsequently, they were engaged in producing counterfeit invoices and claiming input tax credit on them. They used to sell these companies to businessmen then availed GST input tax credit on the fake companies,” said Avasthy.

The suspects have been booked under IPC sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), and 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy).

The police had mentioned that certain shell companies, which the gang used, reportedly conducted transactions with businesses in several countries including Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand and Philippines.

[The Times of India]