Man who ran 46 fake firms, helped businesses evade taxes worth ₹83 cr arrested

The Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) officers, Delhi East, arrested one person for running a network of 46 fake firms and passing on fake input tax credit (ITC) worth ₹82.23 crore.

According to the official statement of CGST Commissionerate, the accused Arvind Kumar was arrested under Section 69(1) of the CGST Act, 2017 and produced before the Duty Magistrate on January 17, who remanded him to judicial custody of 14 days till January 3.

"Through the use of extensive data analytics, officers identified and searched 21 premises, between January 15 to January 17, which led to the unraveling of a network of fake firms that were operating since 2017 to pass on fake ITC. The network of fake firms was being operated by one Arvind Kumar who used to pass fake ITC for a commission of 4 to 4.5 per cent of the invoice amount," it said.

CGST Commissionerate said the investigation conducted so far revealed that 46 firms that were being controlled by Arvind Kumar and his associates are fictitious.

"These firms had no business activity and had been created solely for the purpose of passing on fake ITC. The total fake ITC quantified so far is Rs. 82.23 Crores generated out of the fake billing to the tune of Rs. 541.13 Crores which is expected to increase as the investigation progresses," it added.

Further investigation into the case is underway.