GST Fraud (img: IANS)

Updated on Jan 26, at 1.30 p.m.

An accountant, Mohammadraza Gabhrani, was nabbed from Bhavnagar, the hub of bogus billing, in the illegal input tax credit case by the economic offence cell (Eco cell) of the crime branch.

A preliminary investigation revealed that Mohammadraza created 45 bogus firms and presented bills amounting to ₹500 cr.

Mohammadraza obtained the ID passwords of the registered firms, later operated their GST accounts by linking his contact details to the firm, and generated the bogus bills.

Police probe reveals wide nexus of bogus firms

As per the police, Mohammadraza operated as per the directions of Ahmedabad resident Imran Diamond, who paid him a salary of ₹25,000.

Most of the 45 bogus firms are owned by Imran.

In 2020, Mohammadraza’s maternal uncle introduced him to Imran, who offered him the work of creating these bogus bills, eyeing Mohammadraza’s knowledge of the accounting software ‘Tally’. Imran provided him with a laptop and a mobile phone, along with an initial salary of ₹10,000.

Other than that, a few years ago, Mohammadraza also operated 4-5 bogus firms owned by a Mumbai-based individual named Sultan.

The Eco cell has availed of his four-day remand in this case.

Updated on Jan 25, at 3.13 p.m.

A nexus duping the GST (Goods and Services Tax) department has been uncovered by the economic offence (ECO) cell of the Surat crime branch. The perpetrators syphoned off an input tax credit (ITC) worth ₹30 cr through eight fraudulent firms.

The crime branch has held one accused in this case and launched a probe following a complaint filed by the GST department on Jan 24.

Following a tip-off that a firm named ‘Sky Enterprise’ had passed the ITC to a Katargam-Singanpore road-based Barad Traders worth ₹2.81 cr but had failed to submit the bank details, the chief commissioner of central GST and central excise, Vadodara Zone got into action.

Investigation revealed  that Barad Traders had also passed on their ITC to 12 other Gujarat-based firms. Among these, Ganesh Enterprises, along with another enterprise, was based in Surat.

Upon inquiring, the GST department discovered that the addresses mentioned with the GST numbers of the firms were found to be either residential or an inoperational office space.

Some claimed to have been living at the location for years and had no clue about these firms.

Alongside, the Aadhar Card and tax bills registered in the names of various people were also found to be bogus.

This led to a thorough investigation being carried out, which found that eight firms had duped the GST department of ₹30cr against presenting a turnover of around ₹200cr.

Based on this, the Central GST superintendent (anti-evasion), Subodh Kumar, filed a complaint against the eight firms and their managers in the Crime Branch and handed over the investigation to the economic offence cell (ECO cell).

Following this, the crime branch held one accused.

List of Bogus firms:

1. Sky Enterprise run by Ramji Meniya

2. Barad Traders run by Ramesh Barad

3. Ganesh Enterprise

4. An enterprise run by Mayur Parmar

5. Hardik Enterprise run by Hardik Parmar

6. Tiara Enterprise run by Indrajit Maurya

7. Boss Enterprise run by Ramesh Rathod

8. Silver Enterprise run by Ajay Makwana

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