Six arrested for illegally pocketing GST refunds

The police’s cyber cell identified the mastermind of the alleged scam as 33-year-old Gaurav Rawat, a resident of West Vinod Nagar, who has got 12 fake firms registered on one SIM card obtained using fake ID proofs.

The Delhi Police have arrested six people for faking business transactions of over ₹900 crore to illicitly gain GST refunds. Senior officers said 340 suspicious fake companies are under the scanner for their involvement in the matter.

At least 14 mobile phones, 14 ATM cards, 22 cheque books of fake companies and other documents have been recovered from them, the DCP said. (HT File Photo)

The police’s cyber cell identified the mastermind of the alleged scam as 33-year-old Gaurav Rawat, a resident of West Vinod Nagar, who has got 12 fake firms registered on one SIM card obtained using fake ID proofs. His associates have been identified as Shailesh Kumar (29), Sandeep Singh Negi (30), Vivek Kumar (42), Manoj Kumar (41), and Harish Chand Girish (45).

Deputy commissioner of police (cyber cell) Anyesh Roy said all the suspects have worked as data entry operators in VAT and GST departments on contractual bases, and are conversant with the vulnerabilities of the taxation system

At least 14 mobile phones, 14 ATM cards, 22 cheque books of fake companies and other documents have been recovered from them, the DCP said.

“The forgery came to light when a complainant alleged that some unknown persons have got issued three GSTin on his PAN and Aadhar cards. GSTins were issued in the name of three separate firms -- Manish Trading Company, Galaxy International and ABM Enterprises. As per the complainant, all the three bogus companies, built using his PAN and Aadhar details, had business transactions up to Rs. 119 crore, and resultant GST liability with no real payee,” Roy said.

The DCP said, his team then collected technical details including digital footprints of the alleged three GSTins issued on the PAN of the complainant. It was found that the fraudsters were using multiple mobile numbers and email IDs to register bogus firms with GST department.

“The data of registration of firms on GST portal linked to the mobile phones and email IDs used for registration of the three fake companies in the name of the complainant was also obtained from GST department. Analysis of the data obtained from GST department led the team to identify 81 firms who are involved in business transactions with the three fake firms registered in the name of the complainant. Further analysis of the data has brought out that 227 such firms have been created using the same email ID and mobile number,” Roy said.

He said based on the technical analysis and field verification, the police team arrested Shailesh Kumar. Further, on his disclosure, the other five suspects were also arrested.