The Finance Ministry on Monday said Goods and Services Tax (GST) officials have busted a racket operating 569 shell companies and taking bogus input tax credit of Rs 1,047 crore through these companies. The mastermind has been arrested.
The Jaipur Zonal Unit of the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) detected this fraud racket in 14 states. This gang used to commit fraud through fake companies while staying in Delhi. According to the ministry, Rishabh Jain, a resident of Delhi, hired 10 employees to run these shell companies.
After tracking their movements and scrutinizing the data, the officials were able to trace the mastermind involved in the forgery. Jain was arrested on June 25 and produced before the Economic Offenses Court, Jaipur and remanded to judicial custody till July 7.
The gang issued invoices through shell companies showing taxable turnover of Rs 6,022 crore and with the help of these, input tax credit of Rs 1,047 crore was claimed.
These fake companies are present in Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Bengal, Karnataka, Goa, Assam and Uttarakhand. GST officials have attached 73 bank accounts of this gang and brokers. ( PLC/GT )
