The Goods and Service Tax (GST) officials nabbed three individuals involved in selling steel waste after making bogus bills worth ₹392.83 crore.
Arvind Patel of Nilkanth Alloys, Krupesh Patel of Capeco Alloy Limited, and Jashmin Patel, a partner in Pramukh Industries,were arrested by the GST department.
They were booked under section 132(1)(c) of the Goods and Services Tax Act for fake input tax credit.
During the GST raid, it was found that all the three arrested had indulged in fraud by obtaining bogus bills.
The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court ordered the remand of Arvind and Jashmin while Krupesh was arrested on June 27. Krupesh is on remand till July 3.
Babus in crime
It was revealed that GST officials themselves were reportedly involved in the growing racket of fake billing.
These officials create entities to generate fake bills for. They get them to register for GST in the name of a bogus or poor person.
The accused reportedly used to initiate a sluggish pre-registration site inspection process, and once they acquired the registration number, they generated fake billing for a large amount for four to six months, got an input tax credit and then gradually slowed down till the company’s operations were closed.
If unusual billing starts in the account of a businessman who has obtained GST registration, a red flag appears on the GST website against them. Even after seeing this red flag, the officials allegedly turned a blind eye to it and sheltered the accused.