1k Crore GST Racket Busted, Two Arrested
Ahmedabad: Two men have been arrested for engineering a massive fraud involving fake rubber stamps and fraudulent GST input tax credits. The total value of these illicit transactions is estimated to be around Rs 1,000 crore. CID crime and railway officials arrested Umang Darji and Ravi Soni in this connection on Sunday. In this elaborate scheme, the duo allegedly misused the GST numbers of various entities to create fake invoices for goods such as gold, silver, software and cement, facilitating tax evasion and earning hefty commissions.
During a raid at Darji’s office in Ahmedabad on Friday, authorities uncovered the full extent of the operation.
Darji was found manufacturing fake rubber stamps under the pretence of accounting, which were then used to obtain bogus GST input tax credits. The investigation revealed that Darji also misused the bank accounts of registered political parties and trusts, depositing funds as donations.
These funds were transferred and withdrawn under falsified expenses, with the money being funnelled back to the donors through various channels.
The raid led to the seizure of a trove of incriminating evidence, including accounting books, receipts, chequebooks, passbooks, ATM cards, tax audit reports, letterheads, tax invoices, income tax return forms, rental agreements, mobile sim cards, rubber stamps of various companies, two laptops, one pen drive and Rs 80,000 in cash. A case has been registered against Darji and Soni under various sections of the IPC and the Information Technology Act. The accused were presented in court and remanded in police custody until May 31.
The ongoing investigation, supported by the GST department, the Income Tax department, and the Election Commission, aims to uncover the full extent of the scheme and determine the involvement of political parties.
