Multi-crore GST fraud case in Noida: 4 more arrested
A total of 29 people have been arrested so far in the case. Officials said that those arrested are part of the extended team of the larger group, allegedly running the scam. “Earlier, we arrested 25 miscreants and our teams had been raiding in several districts to arrest the gang members. During interrogation and with the help of evidence, we arrested four more people. We recovered data of 250 bogus companies, used to fraudulently claim Input Tax Credit. Along with this, Rs 3 crore in eight bank accounts, linked to these accused have been frozen so far,” said Harish Chander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Noida.
Police said that the gang with the help of fake firms, would raise e-way bills to avail input tax credit (ITC) or GST refund from the government. ITC is the GST paid by a taxable person on any purchase of goods or services that are used or will be used for business.
As far as the shell companies are concerned some even presented papers showing import-export business with firms based in countries like Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines, the DCP further said.
The arrested accused have been identified as Rahul Nigam (29), Piyush Kumar Gupta (36), both residents of Shahdara in Delhi, Dilip Sharma (29) from Indralok and Rakesh Kumar (47) from Pitampura. Piyush is an MBA from Delhi University.
DCP Chander said the gang used to make fake bills worth Rs. 70 lakh to 80 lakh every day. “A person named Nishant Agarwal has been identified as the team leader, who helped in floating bogus companies, with the data he accessed from the gangs associated with an earlier case, in which 25 were arrested. It caused a loss of exchequer’s money,” said Chander.
Nishant is currently absconding and may have relocated to Mumbai. He used to travel abroad for the smooth functioning of his bogus companies, the police said.
“In a previous case, the police successfully froze ITC worth Rs. 4,000 crore, which was claimed on behalf of bogus companies. Around 3,350 bogus companies have emerged in the probe so far and the financial transactions shown by them are above Rs 15,000 crore,” said Shakti Mohan Avasthy, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Noida.
An FIR under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 467, 468 and 471 (all related to forgery) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) has been registered in the Sector-20 police station.
Avasthy also said that police has declared a reward of Rs 25, 000 each on the nine accused — Anchit Goyal, Pradeep Goyal, Arjit Goyal, Praveen, Vikas Dabas and Rohit Nagpal — all residents of Delhi; Kunal Mehta, Baldev — both residents of Haryana’s Hisar district, Ashish Alawadi — resident of Sirsa district, who are absconding in the multi-crore GST fraud case that came to light in June.
Source - https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/multi-crore-gst-fraud-case-in-noida-arrests-9059259/
