Kingpin Arrested in Ranchi for Running Fake Invoice Racket Across States
In a major crackdown on financial fraud, the Madhya Pradesh Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has unearthed a sophisticated multi-state GST scam involving fraudulent Input Tax Credit (ITC) claims exceeding Rs.33 crore.
The elaborate racket, run through a web of bogus firms and forged documents, was allegedly orchestrated by Vinod Kumar Sahay, also known by his alias N.K. Khare. Sahay was arrested from Ranchi, Jharkhand, on June 25 following an extensive operation by EOW officials. He has been remanded to police custody until July 2 after being produced before a special court in Jabalpur.
According to the EOW, the gang created multiple shell companies using fake identities and forged documents of unsuspecting individuals. The fraudulent GST invoices generated by these entities were used to claim and transfer ITC without any actual supply of goods or services, causing massive revenue losses to the government.
Between 2019 and 2020, Sahay allegedly approached individuals in Jabalpur under the guise of assisting them in securing business loans. He collected personal documents including Aadhaar cards, PAN cards, land records, photographs, electricity bills, and bank details.
These were then misused to set up fake firms such as M/s Maa Narmada Traders (in the name of Pratap Singh Lodhi); M/s Namami Traders (Deendayal Lodhi); M/s Maa Reva Traders (Ravikant Singh); and M/s Abhijeet Traders (Nilesh Kumar Patel)
Sahay maintained complete control over these entities by managing all related credentials — from bank accounts and login details to mobile numbers and email IDs. Investigations revealed that these firms were not engaged in any actual business activities, yet issued large volumes of fake GST invoices to facilitate illegal ITC transfers.
